A visitor encounters several legal settings
In Valencia, a private association, a public street and a traveller's prescribed medicine belong to different legal settings. Association membership concerns an organisation's statutes and decisions. Public possession and consumption are addressed by the Citizen Security Law. Controlled medicines carried during treatment fall under AEMPS travel procedures. These rules operate alongside one another. Being on holiday does not combine them into a single tourist exception, and a membership document does not replace a medicine-travel authorisation.
Private membership is an organisational relationship
Spanish association law requires statutes to define membership arrangements, rights, duties and governing bodies. Members have participation and information rights, while the association must keep accounts and meeting records. This is the framework of a private organisation rather than an ordinary tourist attraction. Its internal rules are part of the membership relationship. Activities involving cannabis also remain subject to the laws governing those activities, including the Criminal Code's provisions on facilitating unlawful drug consumption.
The public-space rule applies across the city
Article 36.16 of the Citizen Security Law covers unlawful possession or consumption in public places, public establishments and collective transport, even when the conduct is not intended for trafficking. It is classified as a serious administrative infringement. A street, a public square and a collective-transport journey therefore raise the same national category of legal question. The distinction follows the character of the place and the conduct, rather than a person's status as a resident, a visitor or an association member.
Prescribed medicines have their own travel controls
AEMPS's traveller guidance distinguishes controlled medicines used as part of medical treatment from ordinary luggage. Its current FAQ states that people entering Spain with cannabis or cannabis-derived medicines are limited to an amount corresponding to 15 days of treatment. The applicable certificate or permit concerns the named patient's prescribed treatment. A Spanish authorisation covers entry into or departure from Spain; requirements imposed by another country remain that country's responsibility. This is a pharmaceutical travel framework, not a general permission to transport recreational cannabis.
Three documents, three different functions
An association's statutes define its internal organisation. A prescription records a medical treatment. A travel certificate or permit addresses the carriage of controlled medicine across the relevant border. Each document has a specific function and issuing context. For a visitor to Valencia, the practical legal picture is therefore institutional: membership belongs to association law, public conduct to national public-security rules, and treatment-related travel to medicine controls. None of these categories is created by a hotel's booking or a holiday itinerary.
Sources & further reading
General information, not individual legal or medical advice.