Europe's first recreational THC cannabis pilot project
Switzerland is expected to begin what is being called "Europe's first recreational THC cannabis pilot project" within the next few weeks. This trial is just the first of what is expected to be more than a dozen cannabis trials taking place in Switzerland over the next few months.
The trial, called "Weed Care," will begin on September 15 in Basel, the third most populous city in Switzerland, and continue through March 2025.
After the country's significant adjustments to regulation to ease its restrictive access to medical cannabis last month, this is the latest in a rapid sequence of big events towards cannabis liberalization in the country.
In an interview with BusinessCann, Lino Cereghetti, COO of Pure Production AG and a supplier and significant stakeholder in the pilot, said, "If CBD opened the door for cannabis, these pilot projects will open the door for THC."
Weed Care Pilot
Collaboration with entities such as Cannavigia, a Swiss compliance software, and supply chain management platform, and the Department of Health of Basel City, the University Psychiatric Clinics of Basel, the University of Basel, and Pure Production will be essential to the success of the trial.
About 370 people, all of whom are at least 18 years old, permanent residents of Basel-Stadt, and current cannabis users, will take part in the study over its estimated 2.5-year duration.
Participants will be questioned periodically throughout the study's duration to determine their average daily cannabis intake and the drug's impact on their physical and mental well-being.
"One of the key goals of our study is to figure out if, in a controlled market where they have a choice, individuals prefer risk-minimizing goods," said Mr. Cereghetti. Since buying illegally guarantees a high THC and low CBD content, it's not worth the risk.
They'll be able to choose from four distinct flower products and two different hash products, all of which have THC levels below 20%.
Pure Production is the sole source of these items, and they can be purchased at "black market pricing" ranging from 8 to 12 Swiss francs per gram (about £7 to £10).
Cannavigia CEO Luc Richner said, "In the forthcoming pilot project in Basel, pricing is based on the THC level of the cannabis and may vary during the trials.
The trials' underlying research aims to shed light on how legalization would affect the local cannabis illegal market and the users' physical and mental well-being. The particular questions for this research will, however, be determined by individual studies.
Nine separate pharmacies will stock the medicines, and each participant can purchase up to two 5-gram packs at a time.
Producers will "use its software to track their cultivation and distribution," allowing the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) to "know the amount of cannabis produced," and dispensaries will "authenticate participants to ensure that only people approved for the trial can purchase cannabis." Cannavigia will also provide the dispensing system for the pilot.
Maximum conformance and transparency are necessary because of the Narcotics Act and the requirement to report to the United Nations. Furthermore, Mr. Richner explains, that the pilot initiatives provide a scientific basis for potential future legalization.
To facilitate both of these endeavors, we have created an add-on to the Cannavigia program that has all the relevant data for either. By providing an accurate picture of what future cannabis legalization could entail, supply chain openness fosters support for the movement toward full decriminalization.
There Will Be Further Investigations
The Swiss Federal Narcotics Act was updated with crucial new regulations on May 15, 2021, which paved the way for these preliminary studies.
It is believed that applications for such research were submitted by universities in Bern and Basel as early as 2017, which is what's the political wheels in motion and led to the FOPH approving the pilot on April 19 of this year.
The government was allegedly interested in the concept but ultimately rejected the plans because no legal structure existed to support such experiments.
The amendment passed in May of this year established this legal framework, allowing for the regulated sale of recreational cannabis for research purposes for 10 years and providing a "broad framework of possibilities" meant to provide a solid evidentiary foundation for the best regulatory route forward.
When the rules changed last year, Mr. Cereghetti says that Basel, Bern, and Zurich all declared plans to implement experimental projects, with Basel being the most proactive.
Now that the Basel research has been approved, it's likely that applications for similar studies from other cities have been submitted.
These are currently being reviewed and approval might come as soon as one, two, or three months from now, depending on when and how thoroughly the applications were filled out.
We are involved in a number of the about ten Swiss projects that have publicly stated they have begun submitting or are still preparing to submit. Additionally, we're thinking about starting up our very own pilot project in 2023.
It is believed that a new push at nationwide recreational legalization is underway and that many more studies will be initiated in the following months.
A second public vote was being planned by Pure and other groups after a 2008 referendum to legalize the cultivation, purchase, and consumption of cannabis for personal use failed with 63% of voters voting against it.
The group "didn't see a rationale for a public vote anymore" because of the rapid advancements made on the medical cannabis act and the pilot programs, and so they opted to seek a parliamentary route.
The Council of States' Commission on Social Security and Health approved a move to fully legalize and commercialize cannabis for adult use in October 2021.
Now, a legislative group has been established to "teach them over the next one and a half years," and a nine-person subcommittee of the commission has been given until October 2023 to develop legislation that would "regulate recreational cannabis countrywide."
This implies that those drafting the legislation will have a solid grounding in cannabis and will be aware of the pitfalls that other countries, like Canada, have encountered and from which we may learn.
This change in public opinion in Switzerland during the past five years has been nothing short of remarkable. There's hope that Switzerland's cannabis market will be fully regulated by 2025. Yet, these test runs will continue to occur simultaneously.
