The General Assembly of Cannabis Users Association Pannagh denounces the disproportionate intervention of the Municipal Police of Bilbao against the association and demands the immediate withdrawal of the charges against the three members who were arrested last Monday, in recognition of the fact that they have not committed any crime, taking into account that Pannagh carries out its activities according to the jurisprudence regarding the ’shared consumption’ such as has been approved by the Provincial Tribunal of Bizkaia in its decision to withdraw the prosecution that was opened by the municipal police in 2005.

Bilbao 19 november 2011

The Extraordinary General Assembly of Cannabis Users Association Pannagh, in an urgent meeting today, has unanimously agreed the following:

We publically declare that all the material that was confiscated in the office and its surroundings that were rent on behalf of the association, including the derivates of cannabis, are the collective property of all members of the association. The money that was deposited on the accounts of Pannagh proceeds integrally from our contributions and legal activities that are carried out by the association.

We declare that our president Martin Barriuso Alonso, as well as the other members of the Executive Committee, have always acted in representation of the mandate given to them by the successive general assemblies in order to organise the collective cultivation of cannabis to provide for the personal consumption of its members. This follows from the statutes that have been legally registered in the register of Associations. Likewise, we declare that two other members who have been detained were carrying out their tasks under a labour contract. These tasks refer to activities that have been commanded by the rest of the association. These members have the same influence in the decision making process than the rest of the general assembly.

We declare that the destination of the cannabis derivates that have been confiscated in the police operation is a collective fond that would be distributed through a closed circuit, composed of only members, adults, who use these products for personal consumption only, and that we have never given, or intended to give a part of this cannabis to third persons.

We urge the immediate withdrawal of the file in charge that has been opened against the three members who were arrested last Monday, in recognition of the fact that they have not committed any crime, taking into account that our association carries out its activities according to the jurisprudence regarding the ’shared consumption’ such as has been approved by the Provincial Tribunal of Bizkaia in its decision to withdraw the prosecution that was opened by the municipal police in 2005. Thus we urge the immediate return of the confiscated cannabis and the rest of the material and the documents that were confiscated, as well as the return of our premises and the release of our bank accounts.

We particularly denounce the fact that the police intervention means a halt in the provision of cannabis to the 157 members of Pannagh have been diagnotised as holders of pathologies, certain of them severe, in which cannabis has a proven therapeuthical efficacity. In this sense we consider those who have ordered this traumatising and absurd intervtnion as responsible for the consequences on the health of these people.

We protest against the deliberate intentions to present us as drug traffickers, since we have created a closed circuit for legal provision of cannabis as an alternative to the black market, which has precisely contyributed to reduce drug trafficking. The intervention of the municipal police goes in the opposite sense, facilitating the promotion of the drug trafficking that they say they wish to prosecute, sending the 327 members of Pannagh again to the illegal market.

We demand an end to this absurd harassment that has been imposed on our association as well as on our président. We demand respect for our work and our rights, especially our right to health, freedom of movement, the free development of the personality and not to be stigmatized for personal choices that do no harm to anyone.

We want to clarify that the figure of 78 kilograms of marijuana seized by the municipal city police is false because this includes, in addition to products that are suitable for consumption, crop residues, plants that were infected with fungi, and shamefully, two boxes of marijuana that were harvested in 2005, the same that were confiscated before and that were returned to us by the courts.

We demand a clear legal regulation for the cultivation, possession, consumption and distribution of cannabis in order to end the current situation of legal insecurity. If not we will we suffer again and again police and judicial interventions despite that fact that we have already won the case on the legality of our operations. In this sense, the members of Pannagh support the proposal for legal regulation approved today by the Federation of Cannabis Associations (FAC).

We will open a bank account whose number shall be released as soon as possible, for the collection of funds to pay the bond of 15,000 euros imposed on our President. The account is open to all the gifts of our members and others, communities or entities that wish to collaborate. In case the funds raised would exceed 15,000 euros, the surplus will be redistributed to a resistance fund, that will be administered by the FAC. This fund will be used for any other bonds that will be imposed on members of the FAC for activities of collective cultivation. In the case of a refund of this bond, that amount will be deposited in the resistance fund.

We will continue our work of sharing the collective cultivation of cannabis, with priority given to members with a therapeutic indication but without excluding anyone as far as possible. This activity will be managed collectively, forbidding the three members who were charged with offenses against public health and safety, to participate actively in this task.

We will convene a new extraordinary general assembly next Tuesday, November 22 at 19:30, to decide on concrete collective actions that we will implement for the proper conduct of this activity.

We communicate these agreements to the public opinion.

Extraordinary General Assembly of Pannagh

Contact: Joseba del Valle, Press officer + 34 676681363.

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