Spain's cannabis social clubs were built on a simple idea: a closed, non-profit association of adults who share cannabis in private. In tourist areas that idea is increasingly being copied by people with no interest in the "closed" or "non-profit" parts. Tenerife: two fronts shut, eight arrests In early October 2026 Spain's National Police closed two premises in a shopping centre in Playa de las Américas, in Arona in the south of Tenerife, and arrested eight people for alleged drug trafficking. Both businesses presented themselves as cannabis clubs. According to police, they were selling to anyone who walked in, while people outside worked the street to bring in buyers and watch for officers. Officers seized 547 g of marijuana, 329 g of hashish and 255 g of rosin, as reported by Atlántico Hoy, which counts 16 such premises closed in Adeje and Arona since 2025. In 2024 the Guardia Civil raided four "clubs" in the same two towns and seized 45 kg of marijuana, according to Diario de Avisos. Why the label is attractive Spain has no law regulating cannabis clubs. Private use by adults is not a crime, and the courts have tolerated associations that keep supply inside a small, registered membership. In 2015 the Supreme Court drew the line: a club that operates at scale or serves the public is no longer "shared consumption" but trafficking. That grey area is exactly what fronts exploit. A sign, a members' form at the door and a non-profit registration can make a shop look like an association, at least until police look closer. The customers most likely to be fooled are tourists, who don't know the rules and are often approached in the street. The scams around the clubs Fake clubs are only one part of the problem. Visitors also run into: - Street promoters. In places such as La Rambla in Barcelona, touts hand out cards and walk tourists to premises. Genuine associations are not allowed to recruit publicly. - Fake Telegram "clubs". Reviews of real clubs on Google Maps are spammed with links to Telegram channels that claim to sell or deliver for the club. Real clubs do not sell online or deliver. - Up-front payments. Some sites and middlemen ask for money before a visitor has even seen a club. Anyone caught carrying or using cannabis in public faces fines under Spain's 2015 public security law, and crossing a border with it is a crime. How to tell a real club from a front Social Club Spain (socialclubspain.com), a free directory of 560 associations, lists five warning signs in its report on the Tenerife closures (socialclubspain.com/news/tenerife-fake-clubs-arona): 1. Touts outside, or someone walking you in. 2. No membership process: a real club registers you in person with an original passport or ID and checks you are 18 or over. 3. Selling to non-members or for takeaway. 4. Prices or "menus" advertised outside or on social media. 5. No association name, registration or board. The directory's guide to how clubs work (socialclubspain.com/guide) advises contacting a club directly before visiting, rather than going through promoters or paid access sites. What comes next Proposals to regulate cannabis associations nationally have repeatedly stalled in Madrid. Until a law exists, police will keep closing fronts one premises at a time, and the burden of telling the difference will keep falling on visitors. Sources: Libertad Digital Canarias, Tenerife Weekly, Atlántico Hoy, El Digital Sur, Diario de Avisos.