Episode Transcript

Rene:  Welcome back to Reefer Medness the Podcast with your hosts Kirk Nyquist, the Registered Nurse, and Trevor Shewfeld, the pharmacist. I'm Rene back in the studio. This is episode 160, and it's part two of Kirk's Adventures in Spain. In part one, Kirk spoke with some people in Barcelona, and now we're going to visit Kirk's Adventures and Conversations in Madrid. Enjoy.

Kirk:  At this point we're not we're we're traveling just Michelle and I. We are meeting up with friends of ours, Connie and Stephen. We're meeting up with them in Madrid, and that's the next, I think the next couple of interviews are from Madrid. But Stephen was telling me that his kids were in Spain a few years back, and they got arrested for possession of cannabis as tourists and got fined. Because they went to one of these clubs, purchased some cannabis, and walked out on the streets and got busted. So when you walk into these clubs, you have to show identification. So I was using my Manitoba driver's license as my as my identification.

Trevor:  About your passport? Just curious.

Kirk:  No, I didn't use my passport. Maybe a little bit of cannabis paranoia. I don't know. I figured what are they gonna do with a what a Manitoba driver's license, right? So I used that. I I was trying to use my international driver's license because I took an international driver's license with me as well. Do you guys remember those? You ever got one?

Trevor:  I was just gonna say what how if you can do it quickly, what how and why did you get an international driver's

Kirk:  Because I tried to open ourselves up for potential of renting a vehicle, right? Okay we we went on this trip with no return date. We left Canada with a with a ticket to Barcelona and no ticket home. And we haven't done that in decades to have that kind of a trip where we didn't plan a trip home. So I went to the local Canadian Automobile Association down in Brandon and I bought an international driver's license for $35. And it's the same license I bought 43 years ago when I traveled when I had an international driver's license traveling the world back in nineteen eighty four and five when we tripped the world, Michelle and I, during the whole Ethiopian thing. Because I kept remember remembering hearing all those Ethiopian songs. Do they know this Christmas? As we were going to different countries, all these songs were pop. Oh, that's the American version. That's the Canadian version. Anyways, I digress. So I had the American driver's license, my my my international driver's license, and I presented that and they're flipping through it, and I I took them to the Spanish page, it goes, no, no, no, no, no, no. This this is nothing. This is nothing. Need your passport. I'm not giving you my passport. So I gave him my Manitoba and it had my picture and it looked official, so they took my Manitoba and they photocopied it, scan it, and so they got my personal information. I used I used our reefermedness@gmail account, so all the spam I'm getting is coming to our reefer account. So I'm not getting spam in my personal email address. So we're getting close to our time. We gotta get to Madrid. And we are walking towards our Airb&b and there is a Bless Club. Now, these clubs are closed a fair bit of time and there's no signage for these clubs. There's absolutely no signage whatsoever. And as we're walking by and it's now it's getting it's dark, so it's probably around six in the evening, seven in the evening, we're walking back to our Airb&b. There's a there's a trifold sort of a no what do you call it? Tent tent sign. Tent sign on the sidewalk, and it said the Blessed Social Club. And these guys are okay with me telling them. And this is this is on this is on Diagonal Road in Barcelona. So I dipped in and Michelle went home and went back to the Airb&b and and I meet Andreina.

Adreina:  Hello, my name is Andreina. I am from Venezuela. I live here in Barcelona for almost a year ago. I've been working in this club and learning a lot about cannabis. I was a regular user but now I dispense so it's different. You get to know like the process and the different flowers. When I was not living here and not working here, I had a really stressful job. So I decided to work on myself and I do yoga. I am a yoga teacher too, so I came to Barcelona to study, become a yoga teacher and I became like a few months ago. So yeah, for me like both worlds are like connected because for me working here I've been using cannabis for a long time and this is like a dream job if you could say. So I changed like my whole life for a year like working in an office and being really stressful about things that wasn't mine and I started to change that to look for myself and to do what I wanted to.

Trevor:  So Kirk because Kirk being Kirk, I assume Andreina wasn't the only one you met there. Who else were you talking to in the Blessed Social Club? Yeah.

Kirk:  Yeah, so she was the employee of the club. I'll have a picture of her on our webpage of her looking out her s little tiny window. Now again, all these clubs are different. So she's sitting there like a tow booth clerk. You know, hello, can I help you? And yeah, I'm so and so. Okay, come on in. So she made a phone call. I was allowed in, and I opened the door, and you acquire your cannabis from her. So as I'm acquiring my cannabis from her, I ask her for a story. So I got that story from her, and then I just wandered into the club and there was this fella and lady sitting down, and they obviously were having a very intimate conversation. They knew each other, it was dark, there's music in the background, and me be me, I just walked up and said, Hello, I'm Canadian and I'm here to gather cannabis stories.

Trevor:  Sure that's exactly what they wanted.

Kirk:  Yeah, well yeah, that just some polite Canadian comes up and but it's my style, man. When I'm in the groove, I'll get a story. And they invited me to sit down and this is a story I got from Ivan and the and this is I was saying this is an interesting because we we were just talking and I said, Do you mind if I put the recorder on? He said, sure. I said, you know, tell me a cannabis story. And this is the story he tells me. And what I really kind of like about the story, and I and I said this earlier, cannabis I mean, my relationship with cannabis is what? Fifty years of of knowing cannabis and like birds of the feather, right? If you collect stamps, you see stamp collectors. When you consume cannabis, you just sort of pop into people who collect who collect cannabis. So all my life I've stumbled into cannabis peoples. And this is a curious story because this man proves my point on how cannabis just draws people together.

Ivan:  Well, my name is Ivan. Yeah. I am from Caracas, Venezuela, living in Barcelona. But I just arrived today, you know? From Amsterdam. Oh. At four AM.

Kirk:  Oh wow

Ivan:  I'm going straight to work, you know, but well, you just keep going. But I was in Amsterdam recently, you know, and something quite interesting happened because I was like having a J in the street, just walking, I had no light, you know. So I needed to ask for a light to someone, that happened all the time. Back then was that I requested light to a guy, you know, that I saw, you know, we could bite, you know. So I got close, I just for the for for the light and I light for the J and I give the J to him and we begin to speak all all in English because you are in Amsterdam, right? Yeah. So what happened was that in the conversation, speaking on English, we asked each other like and where are you coming from? And I say Caracas and he say Yo soy the Caracas también So he was he was a Caraquenian living in in Amsterdam.

Kirk:  Cool.

Ivan:  So what happened was that I don't know. After a while meeting each other, we find out that we did graffiti, you know, in Caracas at the same time, like 2006, you know, and then but in two different places on town. So in a way it was quite narrow, narrow possibility to meet someone that was quite of a line, you know, with me, you know. He was from the city I was, he did graffiti at the same time I did. Well he's a graphic designer, but I am a I study architecture, I am a painter right now. But we were like in the same kind of kind of line or or vibe. And I believe weed kind of bring people together that is in the same kind of synchronicity and it's not about luck. You know, it's about like being in r the right place and the right people around you, like stuff begins to happen, you know.

Kirk:  With cannabis.

Ivan:  Yeah.

Kirk:  So I'm I'm with Ivan. We were gosh, we were probably together for about thirty minutes, maybe forty minutes. Time was slipping. But of course being the polite Canadian, I kinda realized I got what I was looking for. I'm not these guys these guys were obviously together before I arrived. So I I figured, okay, it's time to leave, Kirk. Now these guys were the only ones in the club. So it was, you know, it was very quiet, just these two people and and the and the employee. So I I slipped out, took some pictures. So this picture's on our website of me in front of the club, and wandered back to our Airb&b, quickly making voice memos. Cause Ivan told me lots of stuff that he wouldn't let me record. So I was making voice memo recordings and I may or may not have been allegedly, you know, enjoying the the procurement of the cannabis. Because I was a member of the club.

Trevor:  You were a member of the member of the club. You didn't break any rules.

Kirk:  I didn't break any well I didn't break any rules that I can find anywhere. And and I almost got ran over, right? Because of course because I'm making I'm I'm enjoying my conversation with myself and laughing and giggling with myself.

Trevor:  You didn’t look like a crazy person at all.

Kirk:  no, not at all. And and I think at some point as I was reviewing my notes going, Oh, that car almost ran me over. Okay. Anyway, so I got back to the Airb&b and I think the next day we were leaving Barcelona for Madrid.

Trevor:  You can go real fast on a train in in Spain, can't you?

Kirk:  One thing about Europe. Europe is that they truly do know how to move people. And this bullet train was three hundred kilometers an hour. I'm sitting there, Michelle's passed out, I'm looking up at the board, we're going three hundred kilometers an hour and it's thirty-five degrees out. The only reason I knew I was going three hundred kilometers an hour is that I'd look out at the highway and the cars are going 120 kilometers an hour, and we're like we're leaving him in the dust, right? So yeah, we're on our way to Madrid, and we're going to Madrid to meet our friends. Now, Steven, you would have met Stephen in E78 Buyer Beware, Buyer Bewildered. He was the fella that was telling us how he drove his car into the ditch on his way to Edson and in the in the in the trunk of his car he had like about three pounds of cannabis. This was back, I think in the eighties or nineties when he used to supplement his income by getting his friends cannabis. And so Steve tells us that story. Well, Steve and Connie and Michelle and I met in Madrid and we spent the next three weeks together with them. And so we're in Madrid, we go see the castle in Madrid, we see where they you know, where the royalty lives in Spain, and we go on a hunt. Steve and I go on a hunt and we knocked on a lot of doors and Stephen Stephen's going like he he's amazed by what I'm trying to do. He's going, Kirk, you're in Madrid and we're trying to find cannabis. I said, No, we're not trying to find cannabis. We're trying to find cannabis stories. There's a difference. It's a difference. So knock, knock, knock, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. Knock, knock, knock, no, no, no, no, no, no. Knock, knock, knock, hold on. So we get a hold on, and they said, No, we want you to go to X Cannabis Club, which is two kilometers that way, and whatever, right? So they market on our app and off we go. Well, in the meantime, I'm passing CBD stores. I'm passing like storefronts that are selling CBD products, and I and that is another episode. Well, we come across this other one, and they're called Biohazard, and they want me to promote their business. And if you go on the webpage, they're very, very much out there talking about their club. They're right in the heart of the city. It is your go-to spot for things cannabis. It is a quick this is this is on their webpage. It is a quick walk from Metro San Bonito, Madrid, Centro. Talk about convenience. This club is very aggressive in this marketing.

Trevor:  I like your l radio announcer voice.

Kirk:  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can do the radio. So they basically, you know, step into Biohazard Madrid, and you'll not just enter in the cannabis social club. It's a chill space where people come together to share their love for the green. Located close to iconic landmarks. The vibe inside is laid back, welcoming everybody from seasoned cannabis enthusiasts to the merely curious. The club's interior is designed for comfort, creating a relaxed atmosphere. It is not just about getting high. It's a place to kick back, have conversations, and make connections. Whether you're a pro or newbie, Biohazard Madrid is all yours, right? Exclusively. And it's sort of like, okay, now, is cannabis legal in Spain or not? Right? So yeah, so we go in. Now, Steve, Steve does not consume cannabis. I kept calling him my minder. So he went with me and

Trevor:  That's gotta be Kirk on a leash.

Kirk:  It was kind of fun. But again you gotta appreciate what's going on here. I mean you are a member of a club one at a time so they usually let you in the door in the atrium one at a time. So here's Michelle and I going in together. Now Steve Steven Steven's just letting me do my gig and not saying anything and then I get in the door and he sneaks in behind me. So now there's two of us and we're you know Canadians polite but overwhelming and and so Steve's with me and several times employees this this this employee gets on the phone and they and Simon I we're gonna meet Simon here and yeah he he basically gets permission for us to go inside the club and I get a whole bunch of stories. Google Maps will show you the density of these clubs they're everywhere in Madrid. Like they are in Barcelona so go on Google Maps but you have to be very careful about the club so as soon as I step in the Biohazards I meet a young lady who who calls a young man and the young man comes back and the young man steps back in the door and the young man phones a manager and the young man says come on in. So the so the young so Simon explains how cannabis clubs work in Madrid. So again we're not in Catalonia anymore right we're now in.

Trevor:  Madrid.

Kirk:  Madrid which is another province. So this is this is Simon.

Simon:  Okay, my name is Simon. I stay working here around seven months more or less. I'm fine for work here and help the people. Some people have problems for sleep and eat and ask me for there. Good. I start to smoke. When I joined with my friends, the this day I never stop to smoke.

Kirk:  Okay. You you work. You work and you help people with their cannabis.

Simon:  Yeah, yeah, it's very good this.

Kirk:  Yeah, yeah. And you've been doing this seven months.

Simon:  Yes, I stay here in seven months working.

Kirk:  So why do you think Spain has cannabis clubs? Why do you why does Spain need cannabis clubs?

Simon:  Because the people don't, the people está too much acostumbra to to buy in the street and sometimes the product on the street is bad for for the self, you know.

Kirk:  Okay.

Simon:  And in these clubs I think the quality is more regulated, you know, you can show the quality and you can take what you want.

Kirk:  Okay. Very cool. And what do you think about the CBD shops that are selling to tourists?

Simon:  I think it's good. It's another market, no?

Kirk:  Another way.

Simon:  Another way, yes.

Trevor:  Am I saying this right Alejandra?

Kirk:  Alejandra? Yeah, she's a she's another employee. She's the young lady that I we met in front and this is the young lady that went to Victoria British Columbia for school. And this is her story.

Alejandra:  Hi, my name is Alejandra. I'm twenty two. I'm from Spain. And one year I went to Canada and I was smoking with the girls, like they were Canadians, and they told me like they have like a wood one and stuff, and then I smoke it. And then the next thing I remember is that I forgot to talk in English. I only talk in Spanish and I was like, chicas, que me sta passando and stuff like that. And they were of course laughing a lot. And then we went to the mall and then I just ate like two Big Macs, then two burgers like normal burgers, and then I went to home and I just like ate a big plate of macaroni. So well

Kirk:  And that was in Victoria. In Victoria. And and let me guess. You said you're twenty two, so that was six years ago? Yeah. So you were

Alejandra:  Sixteen

Kirk:  Sixteen. And was that your first time?

Alejandra:  No, it was like my third time.

Kirk:  Okay.

Alejandra:  Because I starred in Victoria. Okay.

Kirk:  Okay. And now you work in a cannabis club in in Madrid. Are you from Madrid?

Alejandra:  Yeah.

Kirk:  Okay, cool. And what does cannabis mean to you?

Alejandra:  I don't know, it's just mmm it's like a vibe for me. Okay. Like to be chill, open minded and I don't know, to be friendly and good to people in love and peace.

Trevor:  Alright, Kirk. So now w we won't ask anything about your bikini line, but now we've got some Brazilian influence.

Kirk:  Locked into the atrium and they allow us through the next door. So the next door is this long hallway. So we go down this long hallway, maybe fifteen, twenty meters, right? And there's a there's a blank wall, blank wall. And again you can overwhelming, you can you can obviously you can obviously can smell the aroma of cannabis. Though the air exchanges are pretty good because I think you'll hear in the background a fan going 'cause they're sucking the smoke out. These guys are really, really accommodating to the point that I got uncomfortable. Well we're let me we're we're in Madrid, Kirk

Trevor:  Were you a little paranoid at this point, Kirk?

Kirk:  Well not yet. But they are they are calling those Biohazard. Yes. And they are they're they are way they are waiving our fees. So Steve slips in with me. We show we show our our collective driver's license. He's from Alberta. I show the Manitoba driver's license. We get in and they take us, they take us in sort of like a U-shaped walk. We go down the we go down the hallway. We end up in a nineteen seventies rumpus room with couches all over the place. Take that trip, and then we go back up the other side of the building, going back where we were, and we go into this walled room with a little guy with a with a with a you know, hello. This is where the cannabis is, right? Whereas in Barcelona, the cannabis is laid out.

Trevor:  Up front.

Kirk:  Right. So so they gift us water. They gift us cannabis. Steve does not consume cannabis. So they gifted us. So I acquired some cannabis and I sat down and started talking to customers. And again, I introduced myself, told 'em what we're doing. And so this this this is two Brazilian lads that it was interesting as I'm talking to them, I didn't quite understand what they were telling me because did they know about the clubs before they came to Spain or did they discover the clubs when they were in Spain? But this is this is their story, and there's two fellows talking here from Brazil.

Caio:  My name is Caio, I'm from Brazil and we came for Madrid for Spain for traveling for our vacation and then we found this cannabis store for

Kirk:  Have you left Spain yet,.

Caio:  No.

Kirk:  How long you've been in space?

Caio:  I've been since three weeks already. So I was in Barcelona first and then I came here to oh I went to London actually. I left my Spain, then I went to from London to Madrid and tomorrow the day after tomorrow I go to Mallorca and after Barcelona again and then come back to Brazil. Okay, so you are you were traveling Europe? Yeah, Europe. I mean it's mostly Spain, I just went to London because my sister lives there. So I went to visit her.

Kirk:  Okay. Okay is cannabis legal in Brazil?

Caio: No. No, you

Kirk:  No?

Luis:  No. We have to find like in the black market. That's what you say. Or in the Pablo.

Kirk:  Yeah. Is it legal or medically?

Caio:  No, no, no. I mean you can plant some in your house if you have some disease or your family has somebody with the disease. Right. And then there's I I don't know the currency, but then you can plant or you can buy from outside. But it's because of the taxation it's very very expensive to buy from outside to Brazil because it's like sixty percent importing tax. So mostly people prefer planting planting no planting in home the cannabis for treating

Luis:  You have to have medical registration.

Caio:  Very bureaucratic process to go through and takes long because in Brazil everything takes long to go through and get allowed. So m it's very some families are really suffering with this, especially the low low income type of family.

Kirk:  Does it cost money to get a medical license then in Brazil?

Luis:  Oh yeah. Yeah. And you have to prove that you have some point or some reason to grow it in your backyard because it really it is not legal. But now there's time to to produce some oils to the pain and once they're getting more results that it's good for your health, right? They're trying to to make more analyzes and tests and it's far from being California but it's starting. Yeah. Very long.

Kirk:  When you came when you came to Spain, did you know it was legal or well this quasi legal that they had these lounges?

Caio:  No, I I mean we we come to Spain every year, so let we always normally we go to Barcelona and always in Barcelona they sell in in Las Hamblas, but not legal. Okay. And so we we already knew that was not legal, only CBD stores. So then we find a a a coffee place like this place in Barcelona because one guy just gave a card to us. So we stopped buying from the street in Las Hamblas and we got a membership in one card in one place exactly like this. So this one we found in Google today. Okay.

Kirk:  And today.

Caio:  Today, yeah. We were looking around in the plaza if somebody would come to us to sell like they do in the visa

Kirk:  Yeah, yeah, you but you don't want to do that in Spain.

Caio:  Yeah.

Kirk:  No, that's you definitely want don't do wanna do that. That's the but yeah, I was in Barcelona a couple of days ago and visiting lounges as well. This is the first lounge in Madrid that I've visited.

Caio: Oh okay. Yeah. Yeah we didn't know that there was places like this here too.

Kirk:  Wonderful.

Trevor:  So we we came where we've been talking to our lads from Brazil now going way farther afield and you know depending on where what you want to believe, maybe another or the birthplace of cannabis, you've got now somebody from the Indian subcontinent.

Kirk:  Yeah, and this gentleman, and I apologize because something happened with technology. When I got out of the club, his he had typed his name in, but I it didn't capture. Somehow it didn't save, so I put Indian National. This is a fella, and I sat and chatted with him for a while. This is a fella that travels the world a lot. He talks about Thailand a little bit. We get into Thailand more than India. And he's he's there as on a medical conference. And

Trevor:  We're thinking like doctor, pharmacist, something like that.

Kirk:  no he's selling, he is selling medical equipment and ummm and yeah, this is him talking about cannabis clubs and how he discovered the cannabis club in in Madrid.

Indian National:  I'm from India. I came here for work purpose. I'm attending a conference here. But after the conference I come here in the evening, maybe for half an hour to one hour to just chill out for some time. Yeah. And enjoy the away from work experience.

Kirk:  The vibe.

Indian National:  Yeah.

Kirk:  Yeah. I've heard that a lot in Spain. These clubs it's about a vibe.

Indian National:  I don't know. I mean I will get that space when I'm in the zone. So since I am traveling, for a few hours I want to be in that zone.

Kirk:  Cool. How long are you in Spain for? Are you just in Madrid?

Indian National:  Yeah, I am here for this week.

Kirk:  Okay, Yeah, ad did you know about these lounges before you came here?

Indian National:  Yeah, I have found some information online but nothing was confirmed until I landed here and walked inside.

Kirk:  Fantastic. So this is your first one, your first club?

Indian National:  Yeah.

Kirk:  And first time in a cannabis club?

Indian National:  In Spain, yes.

Kirk:  In Spain, okay. You've been where else what what other countries have had this kind of model?

Indian National:  This kind of model I think is very similar to Thailand.

Kirk:  Thailand.

Indian National:  Yeah, okay. Because Bangkok is a tourist hub and Thailand legalized marijuana in non advertised coffee shops.

Kirk:  Okay.

Indian National:  You can only smoke inside. Smoking on the streets or on in the hotels or the public places is not allowed.

Kirk:  So no public consumption of cannabis.

Indian National:  No. So actually I think this model is very good because it can serve both types of tourists well for their own needs without disturbing the others.

Kirk: Right.

Indian National:  Yeah. So in the Netherlands it's completely different. If you go to Amsterdam, you can smell it everywhere on the streets. There could be some kids walking by some old families.

Kirk:  Right.

Indian National:  So they will have to go through that. But here and in Thailand I think it's very nice the way they have organized these places.

Kirk:  So there are there are other people in the club, right? There's another fellow who is sitting off in the back and I asked him if he'd give me a story. He said no. Meanwhile, my friend Steven, who also has a gerbil that can't stay still, is sitting watching me do this stuff. And I think there's points where you can hear his voice in in the background. But yeah, these cannabis clubs are interesting. Now I'm pretty much a lightweight. I don't think it's any secret that I I grow my own and I'm learning how to grow cannabis and I consume my own. And I like my homegrown. The stuff that I was procuring there was it was it was good cannabis. It altered my perceptions a few times. So it got to be interesting to be in these clubs and then to s sort of walk outside and go, my God, I'm in Madrid.

Trevor:  How did I get here?

Kirk:  How did I get here and what just happened and is this legal? So I guess to conclude this

Trevor:  So back to your thesis, Kirk. Is cannabis legal in Spain? 

Kirk:  I don't know. It's decriminalized. Let's say that, right? One thing I did not do is I wasn't going to travel around with a with a hash pipe. So I wasn't buying no hash pipe. I left most of the reefers that were I acquired in these clubs behind. At one point, at one point, again, you know, I'm in Barcelona. I might I might be a little excitable sometimes. I I think I'm a calm guy. But perceptions are maybe different. But I sit down and I and I do light up. I do light up because I I'm in a legal club. So I believe I'm I believe I'm being legal. I'm following what I understand. And my pre-roll starts to canoe. And so, you know, the guys at one point in the conversation said, Hey, you're a reefer. And I said, So I and for those that understand canoeing, only the top burnt. So I don't know if it was my problem lighting it. But I never I never completed any of those reefers, right? That I acquired in these clubs. And most of the times I just laid them down in an ashtray and let them burn out. Because to be honest, it whenever I get into commercial weed, it's for me, it's just overwhelming. My little homegrown is nice balance. I like it. So yeah. I don't know, Trevor, but I knew I wasn't gonna get a criminal record and I knew I wasn't gonna get kicked out of the country. And I don't know I don't know, you know, it can be grown, it can be consumed privately, and I'm a member of this club. So I'm a member of the club. And I'm allowed to consume cannabis in these clubs. I returned home because of course I had lots of notes about this and I am on a holiday with my wife. So from this point forward, I didn't, I stopped going to cannabis clubs. I had I had my stories. We will have another episode where I was going into the

Trevor:  Accidentally.

Kirk:  Accidentally going into the CBD stores, but that's for a different episode. I did come home and I did check laws and and I went to international web pages and again it'll be on our webpage, legalclarity.org; cms.law/english Interior Expert Guides to Travel. So what I want people to do is before you go to these countries, make sure you understand the laws as vague as they are. So it's my perception from what I've read is that I was within the laws and expectations of Spain. Sales to non-members is illegal. I was a member. The clubs are typically required, you require according to the webpage, typically you have to get an invitation to be in these. It's like the Masons. You have to be invited in, right? You have to ask permission and then be invited in. So yeah, you have to ask permission and be invited in. I did just that. I think I was being a competent nurse in the sense that I was getting consent to go in. Members are supposed to have a doctor's note, but no one that I talked to had any doctor's notes. While while there's a legal status, it varies from community to community and jurisdiction to jurisdiction. These clubs generally aim to provide controlled environments. So I think what these clubs are is a that the government allows it because it keeps cannabis confined, right? And you pay a membership fee and you are in a private place, and according to the laws, you can consume cannabis in a private place. Where that cannabis comes from is vague. I don't know. I don't speak the language. I couldn't figure that part out. What we need to know is that if you go, just do your research and be careful. I'm not recommending people go to these clubs. I went purely to get stories and to learn more about cannabis and how cannabis is perceived in international worlds. That was my goal. I want to understand cannabis. I consumed cannabis when I was there because from what I can gather, it's acceptable. And yeah, and walked away going, I still don't understand the cannabis laws in Spain. And and like, and as we go further, when I start talking to Peter Vermeil, he doesn't really know the cannabis laws. Well, he does, but he doesn't.

Trevor:  Like it's just it seem there seems to be a lot of an ambiguity and you know we'll compliment you. You did way more research than your typical tourist on is this legal or not. So you know, eve even you doing all the extra research that I don't think your typical tourist would do, you're still confused. So I guess buyer beware, use your own judgment, do your own research, but you know, it's not clear.

Kirk:  Well the only problem in today's day and age, when you hear someone say, I did my own research.

Trevor:  Well yeah, that that has its it's it's its own its own connotations, but if we're not talking about vaccines, do your own research.

Kirk:  Well, you know, I went there I went there and I had done my research before you got to Spain and I became a member of a club. So I had an assumption when when as a Canadian citizen that oh I became a member of a club, then I obviously can consume cannabis in Spain. Well, that club that I was a member of I didn't send him any money, I just registered and said I was coming. So technically I was not a member.

Trevor:  And and then they didn't actually let you in.

Kirk:  They didn't well, they let Michelle in to go pee, but they didn't let me in to to become a member. So so but every one of those clubs, I I I paid a fee or it was waived. Biohazard, biohaz like it was uncomfortable with how friendly they were. Come on in, show me your identification, expect some spam. I don't know. They were very gracious people, they were wonderful people. And as Steve and I were walking away from Biohazard, he just said, You know, Kirk, they just want the story out there. They're just they're just cannabis centric people. And as you can hear from these stories, these are people that believe cannabis is helping them.

Trevor:  Mm-hmm.

Kirk:  And and it's giving them a place to stay. And you know, we went six and a half weeks primarily in in Morocco where there's not a lot of alcohol, if any, there is alcohol, but you have to search for search it out. I essentially went on a six and a half week vacation trip. I may have consumed alcohol out of those six weeks, maybe maybe four or five days and cannabis a few times in these clubs. But people go to Europe and drink wine and beer, well, they also go to Europe to consume cannabis, right? And what I'm trying to do with this story is show that here's the cannabis culture in Spain. It there's cannabis in Spain, right? And and maybe in the 60s people smoked cannabis on the beach in Spain. Now they don't. Now in Spain, the cannabis consumption is done in clubs. So if you're going to Spain, figure out those clubs, find a welcoming club, pay your fee, and enjoy the questionable distribution of cannabis. You know, where do they come from? You know, I don't know. I don't know. Anyways, it was a it was a fantastic experience.

Trevor:  No, I think that's a good place to end it. So I'm Trevor Shewfelt, I'm the pharmacist, you are.

Kirk:  Kirk Nyquist, the registered nurse still.

Trevor:  And and we are.

Kirk:  We are Reefer Medness the podcast and hey did we say we're in the studio?

Trevor:  We're in the studio.

Kirk:  Yeah, we're in the studio. Thank you, Rene. And we are found at reefermed.ca and all the research I've done, there'll be pictures. This will probably be one of the most illustrated pages on our website. There may be some video because we are recording some video here. Yeah.

Trevor:  Alright, that's been another good one. We'll come back next with another Spanish slash Moroccan thing. Can't look can't wait to hear the next installment.

Kirk:  We're gonna have another story on Spain and it's gonna be focused on the resale of CBD products. And then we'll have a few stories from Morocco and we've got a cup got a story from Peter Vermiel. Yeah. This this was six weeks of Kirk Gathering stories.

Trevor:  Alright, until next time.