One of the biggest problems and hurdles someone faces when they want to start a cannabis social club is not having the money needed to get started. This problem is a huge hurdle caused by an individualist mindset. Consider that you are not the only person in your area that wants to see a social space for cannabis consumers. It’s time to join the dots and grow the community.
Teaming up with other like-minded individuals and groups in your area will help you see more progress in getting cannabis social clubs off the ground sooner, rather than trying to take it all on yourself. Every town and city in the UK has a cannabis community, most just aren’t connected with each other yet. There is far less pressure and burden of financing and operating everything needed to make a successful club happen when people come together.
How do cannabis social clubs operate?
The original cannabis social club model started in Spain. It was created by activists to be a transparent, community based solution to the problems of prohibition. This involved setting up community grows where the product is shared without anyone making a profit. Collective “Associations” then evolved through the need for a safe space to collect their cannabis from, socialise and consume cannabis out of the way of the public who may not want to be exposed to it. The Spanish model has admittedly developed to something that looks a little more commercial and is arguably being exploited. What exists now took years to achieve social and political acceptance, but it is still not legal. We will explain why in a moment.
In the UK, as well community social clubs, many people are running cannabis social clubs as a way of making a personal income. Whilst we don’t disagree that people should be able to run a legal cannabis business where they can make money, that isn’t what cannabis social clubs are about. For profit clubs will likely face greater scrutiny than those running as a community based anti-prohibition solution in the eyes of the law.
Non-profit cannabis social clubs offer a solution for countries and consumers who want to have regular and safe access to cannabis, via trustworthy sources that are not involved in criminal supply chains. In the courts, cannabis social clubs have been rules as aligning with the conditions imposed on all UN member states who have signed the 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This is down to a CSC’s humanistic approach rather than commercial driving factors like profit.
It’s the same reason Germany chose to go down the cannabis social club route after the EU told them full commercial legalisation was a no-go. The UKCSC has been aware of this since we started in 2011 and is the reason we promote non-profit cannabis social clubs – and it is the reason we’ve made progress with MP’s, Government Ministers and a number of Police Crime Commissioners and forces.
The power of community driven cannabis social clubs
Think of a cannabis social club like a church. The church is the people that make it up, not the building itself. The church is not the church because of the person running the show. Just look at those preachers in the US who take loads of donations through the church and are caught buying mansions and yachts. Rather than taking a wage and putting the community raised money into making the community better.
In the case of cannabis social club, putting community money back into the community looks like making the club a nicer place, having better facilities and of course contributing towards the national campaign to legalise cannabis social clubs and the right to grow at home.
The disadvantages of running a cannabis social club on your own
- You have to come up with the money to cover the start-up costs
- You only have 24 hours in a day and you can’t use them all
- You are responsible for all the admin, communicating with members, managing finances, doing all the tasks needed to keep functioning.
- If you stop the club stops, this could be illness or other issues in your life coming up unexpectedly.
- Unless the club is set up as a Community Interest Company (CIC) the money members have contributed to the club could be taken as profit by the person running it at any time.
- If any emergency costs come up, you will have to pay for it or find the money to alone.
- If you need to relocate the club, you will bear the costs and process on your own.
- You are limited by your abilities and contacts.
- You produce or buy all the products and charge more to make a profit.
- If you get raided, you were just someone selling people weed and might not get the support you thought you would.
- If you give up, the club dies too.
The advantages of running a cannabis social club as a community
- The start-up costs are shared between the members
- The more people you have involved, the more work hours there are in a day
- Different members of the club can take on specific roles so everything gets done on time and runs smoothly (organisation management).
- If someone stops, quits, falls ill, leaves or just gives up, there are other members who can step up into one of the admin roles to fulfil the club’s needs.
- Community clubs should be registered as CIC’s or Non Profits to ensure that the money raised goes back into the community and is owned by the club.
- If an emergency cost comes up, you can use club funds or the community can work together to raise funds and share the burden.
- If you need to relocate the club premises, there is a community fund already there, and you will have a bigger group of people willing to help make it easier.
- Members produce the products and are sold at fair trade prices.
- If the club is raided, all the community has a reason to support the club because it belongs to everyone.
- If someone active in the club stops, the club carries on, and they are replaced.
Come together, right now, over weed.
Essentially, having a membership community owned and run club will give you more people with more willingness to participate if they feel a shared level of responsibility. This doesn’t mean there doesn’t have to be leaders and managers because every project needs someone or a few people leading the direction and keeping accountability.
When someone is a member of a club where the money they put into it goes in someone’s pocket rather than trying to improve the situation cannabis consumers are in pre recreational legalisation, it is arguably no different from the clinics who take patients money and don’t put any of it back into improving the situation for its customers. Cannabis social clubs during prohibition are naturally a public service, a support group, harm reduction centres and a safer alternative to the traditional illicit market.
How to make your non-profit cannabis social club work.
Running a non-profit club doesn’t mean the people working for it and giving their time, energy and skill shouldn’t go uncompensated. These people should be paid fairly. Non-profit clubs still need to operate with a business plan, track their cash flow, and make sure that people don’t feel resentful, used or at a personal loss for giving themselves to something. By doing this, the community will start to feel and see the benefits that lead us all into a future where we have a legal place in society.
If you want help getting a local community based cannabis social club off the ground where you live, become a UKCSC member and get in touch! We help our members make change by sharing our experience, guides, plans, templates and one to one advice so you can make progress without feeling like you are doing it all alone. Together we grow, divided we see no change.
Want to know more about the UK Cannabis Social Clubs?
UKCSC are heading out across the UK on tour in 2025 to help kickstart local cannabis communities, talking about cannabis social clubs and the right to grow at home. We would love to meet you at one of our events. Supporter Members get free entry, and we will have tickets available in our shop when we announce the first set of tour dates.
Take a read through our about page, check out our campaign work and previous appearances in the press and feel free to get in touch with us.
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