Swiss experiment to sell marijuana

Marijuana will be sold to adult consumers in pharmacies and social clubs from 1 January 2022 in several major cities in Switzerland as part of a controlled study.

In our country, over the past several years, amendments to the current legislation have been actively lobbied, including those aimed at regulating the possibilities of using hemp for scientific purposes. In general, in no way discrediting such initiatives, however, our dear readers and listeners need to understand what experiments will be proposed for a certain part of the hemp market in Ukraine immediately after the appropriate changes are made to the national regulatory framework.

From January 1, 2022, marijuana will be sold to adult consumers in pharmacies and social clubs (Social Club) in several large cities in Switzerland as part of a controlled study. How to prepare for this kind of events in Zurich is described in this material.

In the fall of 2022, a three-year project “Züri Can - Cannabis with Responsibility” will begin in collaboration with the University of Psychiatric Hospital Zurich to study the effects of the sale of standardized psychoactive hemp products at approved retail outlets. Participants in the experiments should be able to buy "research psychoactive cannabis" (as the Swiss call it) through pharmacies and licensed social clubs. As a result of studying all aspects of this activity, an opinion should be formed on whether it is better to sell marijuana in pharmacies or it should be licensed by the Social Club.  

Officials in charge of the experiment in Zurich state that “At all points of purchase, personal and healthy advice is important, as well as answers to the individual needs of shoppers. Our goal is always to minimize the risks to the health of consumers. " In addition, the participants of the project "Züri Can - Cannabis with Responsibility" will have free access to the doctors participating in the experiment at any time.

The study is aimed at examining the effects on the human body of various types of psychoactive cannabis, both flowers and their derivatives, which contain varying amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, while maintaining high quality standards, officials said. “Our goal is organic quality and local production,” the city officials said. According to the research specifications, the cultivation methods must be consistent with good agricultural practice for the cultivation of medicinal plants. "Participants can consume legal psychoactive cannabis more consciously and responsibly because the ingredients in the products will be of impeccable quality." The participants in the experiment are planned to be regularly interviewed in order to record the state of their health and changes in the surrounding social situation. 

Pharmacies and social clubs must buy the marijuana directly and obtain the plant from growers selected by the Federal Office of Public Health. The prices for flowers, as well as their derivatives, are set by the head of the study. They should be uniform at all points of purchase and, in the opinion of the city administration, be based on the current realities of the market.

Currently, officials of the City of Zurich are looking for pharmacies that want to involve in the project, as well as interested consumers who plan to participate in it. A number of criteria are defined for pharmacies: they must develop a convincing health concept based on the requirements of the study guideline, and prepare an operating concept based on the template provided. In addition, personnel participating in the research must receive induction training and agree to follow the research protocol. Pharmacies should also recruit participants for the experiment. Consumers will cover the costs of participating pharmacies by paying directly for the purchase of psychoactive cannabis flowers or their derivatives. 

Consumers - participants in the study must submit an application and meet a number of requirements for conducting the experiment: they must be of legal age, live in Zurich and be so-called active consumers, that is, regularly use marijuana. They, in turn, must prove that they regularly use psychoactive cannabis by providing appropriate tests. Pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and professional drivers were excluded from the study. 

Commentary of the specialists of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

The Commission on Social Security and Health of the country's parliament laid the legal basis for such events in August 2020 with the so-called experimental article, which regulated the use of cannabis for scientific purposes. The main goal of this type of pilot trial is to study how regulated access to psychoactive cannabis affects consumption, health and purchasing behavior. Starting next year, pharmacies and specialized social clubs in Zurich, Basel, as well as a number of other large cities in Switzerland will conduct several pilot projects to test the release of marijuana for legal use by people who regularly consume it. 

I would like to once again highlight several key points that Swiss government officials consider to be the foundation for such events:

- manufacturers of legal psychoactive cannabis participating in the experiment may be exclusively national companies;

- in order to make any decision related to the use of the hemp plant in the country, pilot programs are “launched”, as a result of which any decisions are made;

- conducting such experiments is monitored both at the federal and municipal levels;

- participants in the experiment / manufacturers, distributors (pharmacies or social clubs, consumers / are strictly controlled by the relevant government agencies;

- “at the forefront” of all activities is the safety of consumers and the quality of products provided to them, which must be grown organically and comply with “good agricultural practice for growing medicinal plants”.

In the 60s of the last century, Dutch government structures initiated the development of coffee shops in the country in which it was possible to legally use marijuana in order to significantly reduce the number of hard drug users by “switching” drug addicts to legal psychoactive cannabis. Later, this initiative grew into a profitable business, and as a result, the number of users in the country of heroin, cocaine, synthetic drugs has sharply decreased. Most likely, the Swiss authorities are trying to form a market for legal psychoactive cannabis by conducting such pilot programs, which, on the one hand, can be as safe as possible for consumers, and on the other hand, it will bring taxes and fees to the state budget, taking resources from the illegal market.