Switzerland: no pilot project to legalize cannabis

Several Swiss cities had been considering the launch of pilot projects to study the effects of regulating cannabis sales. Bern had expressed its willingness to participate, as had Geneva, Zurich, Basel, and Biel.

The goal of these pilot projects was to select a limited number of participants and provide them with legal access to cannabis—through pharmacies, for example—to avoid the problems associated with using products from the black market and to study the effects on drug trafficking in these areas.

The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has determined that recreational cannabis use cannot be legalized without a change in the law that would, for example, allow for the implementation of a pilot program.

The Swiss Confederation therefore refuses to allow these experiments to be conducted under current law. The University of Bern, which had applied for authorization, now has 30 days to appeal this decision.

The FOPH, however, is not opposed to amending the law to allow for experiments. «In principle, it would therefore be desirable to be able to scientifically analyze new forms of regulation,» he said.

In addition to a market for CBD cannabis Switzerland, a country experiencing rapid growth, has between 200,000 and 300,000 regular smokers, including 50,000 who smoke daily.

Both the city of Bern and the research groups involved in the pilot project on the controlled distribution of cannabis were disappointed by the FOPH’s decision.

«It's a real disaster for all the pragmatists in Switzerland who were hoping to finally find solutions to the problem of street dealing.» said the Groupement romand d’études des addictions (Grea). «This is an affront to federalism and to the intelligence of the local stakeholders who have been working on these projects for years.».