The Mossos d’Esquadra propose punishing crimes linked to marijuana trafficking with harsher penalties. In a report drawn up by the body’s prefecture to which La Vanguardia has had access, the Catalan police proposes legal changes to more effectively combat marijuana trafficking, one of the most important phenomena they face.
The document has been raised to the Ministry of the Interior so that it can be analyzed and promoted in the political sphere if it deems it appropriate. The study was commissioned by the chief commissioner, Eduard Sallent, in view of the growing concern to stop a phenomenon that, as the Mossos have been warning for years, is on its way to becoming entrenched and turning Catalonia into a drug economy.
One of the proposals included in the report is to increase the penalties for cannabis traffic and apply an aggravating factor to associated crimes that are currently punished with the payment of a simple fine. They refer to the occupation of floors that are used to install plantations, the defrauding of the electrical fluid and the diversion of water. And they also propose the creation of a crime or an aggravating factor that currently does not exist, such as the trafficking and transport of hydrocarbons, a common practice for supplying narco boats.
For now, the occupation of a property that is not considered a home is punishable by a fine of three to six months even if it is occupied to install a plantation. Punching the light also entails a fine of three to twelve months and diverting the course of the waters to irrigate the crop is punishable by a fine of one to three months. In Catalonia alone, 37% of defrauded electricity corresponds to marijuana plantations, which represents losses of 2,000 million euros a year, according to data from Endesa. In the last five years, supply manipulation cases have increased by 35% and cases linked to cannabis plantations have increased by 70%. For this reason, the Mossos emphasize that “it would be convenient” to increase the penalties for these associated crimes by incorporating them as an aggravating factor for the crime of marijuana trafficking. “We have to put more obstacles in the hands of criminals and make it more difficult for them,” emphasizes a prefecture commissioner.
According to the report, the low penalties for these crimes make Catalonia a golden destination for the establishment of criminal organizations. In addition to the good climatic conditions, a large park of empty flats to install plantations and the excellent geographical situation of connection with the rest of Europe, the fact that the penalties for trafficking in marijuana are lower than in neighboring countries. In the document, the Mossos compare the sentences for this type of crime with the legislation of France, Portugal and Italy and come to the conclusion that the low penalty is “one of the factors that has contributed to Catalonia becoming a favorable criminal environment for to the establishment of criminal networks dedicated to drug trafficking”.
The report recalls that in Spain the penalties for cultivating and trafficking marijuana are one to three years in prison because the substance is considered not to cause serious harm to health, a difference from the rest of the legislation in the environment that equate the harm of marijuana to that of any other drug. In addition, the document emphasizes that the courts usually impose the penalty in the lower section – around one year in prison – because they consider that the fact of trafficking in marijuana does not have enough substance. However, behind most of the cases that the Mossos face are large, well-structured criminal organizations that move a lot of personnel and a lot of money and that lead to episodes of violence between rival groups, narco-assaults, with weapons of fire
Last year, the Catalan police dismantled 52 criminal organizations dedicated to marijuana trafficking and intervened in 429 plantations and a total of 522,000 plants. Spanish legislation provides for sentences ranging from four and a half to ten years for those who are part of a criminal organization that traffics in marijuana. In France, however, the penalties are higher. The neighboring country is the main consumer of cannabis in Europe and its Penal Code imposes on those who produce illegal substances penalties of up to twenty years in prison, which rise to thirty years if they are done as part of a criminal organization The fact that France is the main consumer makes Catalonia a very valuable strategic point for organizations, since they can plant marijuana and distribute it in France without the risk of obtaining a greater punishment than if they acted from any French city.
In Italy, its legislation is also more restrictive than the Spanish one. Penalties for trafficking range from six to twenty years in prison, and criminal association carries penalties ranging from one year to fifteen years in prison. In Portugal, on the other hand, the penalties are similar to those in Spain and there is also a difference between the dangerousness of the drug. It establishes penalties of one to five years for the trafficking of less dangerous ones; from two to ten years for the average ones, and from four to twelve years in prison for the high-danger ones. For criminal organizations, sentences range from ten to twenty-five years.
In view of the situation, the Mossos consider that the cost-benefit ratio between the risk involved in committing the crime and the profits obtained by the criminals is unbalanced. To give an example, for a plantation enabled inside a 50 m2 floor where they pierce the light, the organizations can obtain a profit of 180,000 euros for each of the three harvests they make a year. A total of 540,000 euros. This would be the profits if they sell marijuana by the kilo. If they sell it by the gram, the profit increases to 452,250 euros per harvest. Due to this favorable situation for drug traffickers, the Mossos propose to modify and update the witness protection law, which dates from 1994, so that it is easier to provide confidants. They consider that the regulations are outdated, that no “real witness protection program” has been developed and that “it should be insisted that the legislator amend the law to be more effective in the fight against organized crime”.
The Mossos, as they have already claimed in previous reports, demand clarity to know the legality of certain cannabis-related products that appear on the market and that do not have regulation. Thus, the sale of seeds and materials for cultivation do not have any supervision. The same goes for the sale of CBD products, such as candies and other edibles containing CBD or THC that do not have “sanitary control”. And finally, they emphasize that the activity of cannabis clubs must be regularized, “either to give them legal cover or to prevent their establishment”. They remember that the associations are not regulated by any state or regional rules and that the only rules in force are in the ordinances or municipal plans. The lack of regulation prevents them from carrying out inspections and control tasks.
