switzerland

  • zurich 1990sIt was in 1992 that the Platzspitz city park – right by Zürich train station and internationally nicknamed “Needle Park” – was cleared out by the police, who had previously tolerated drug use and sales there. This was eventually followed, however, by a far more enlightened policy. Switzerland found itself at a crossroads, and chose to take the path of careful consideration instead of ostracization, incarceration and destruction of fellow human beings. From the mid-1990s, we vastly expanded syringe services and methadone access, and also permitted the limited prescribing of heroin – a policy with many well-studied benefits, which spawned a number of imitators around the world. 

  • switzerland 100percent legalLa Suisse devrait réguler le marché du cannabis plutôt que l’interdire. La commission de la santé publique du Conseil national a donné suite par 13 voix contre 11 et une abstention à une initiative parlementaire de Heinz Siegenthaler (Centre/BE). En régulant de manière détaillée le marché et en le contrôlant, au lieu d’interdire le cannabis, on crée des prescriptions cohérentes et plus conformes à la réalité sociétale, soulignent les services du Parlement vendredi. L’objectif est notamment de mieux protéger la jeunesse et les consommateurs. Pour l’auteur de l’initiative, l’actuelle interdiction du cannabis agit de manière insuffisante: la consommation ne diminue pas, le marché noir se développe et il n’y a aucun contrôle de la qualité, ni a fortiori de protection des consommateurs.

  • Let’s give out heroin, for free, to anyone who wants it. This is not a provocation meant to make you gasp or to elicit angry clicks—rather, it’s a proven strategy for reducing the harm of opioids that’s already in use in several countries across the globe. We face two drug-related crises in the United States. The first we can all agree on: Drugs are killing people at unprecedented rates. Over 90,000 people die each year from overdoses in the US, an amount that has quintupled since 1999. The second crisis is disputed, but no less deadly: Our drug policy leaves people to fend for themselves, while we waste time and resources.

  • Western European harm reduction presents an interesting paradox. On the one hand, the widespread availability of effective harm reduction programs is laudable. Drug-related disease rates are low. Overdose rates are low. A variety of treatment options, from abstinence to methadone to prescription heroin, are available in many areas at no cost. Integrated care models⁠—ones that recognize the complex stew of social, economic, psychological and familial circumstances that contribute to problematic drug use⁠—are common. Gone are the days of begging for funding scraps to support a meager staff. But these far-reaching successes have come at a price. (See also:Where have all the activists gone?)

  • The Zurich city council and the university of Zurich announced that the sale of cannabis products from pharmacies and social clubs under controlled conditions would only start in the first half of next year. The Federal Office of Public Health had not yet given its final approval to the project, Zuri Can - Cannabis with Responsibility, due to the "complexity of the project with its different reference points". Without this approval, however, those responsible for the study are not allowed to start growing hemp. And because no cannabis can be cultivated during the winter months, the start of sales is now postponed to the first half of 2023.

  • cannabis switzerlandThe three-and-a-half year pilot scheme, announced on Tuesday, takes advantage of a change in the law that was approved by parliament last year. This allows cities to conduct scientific studies on the effects of the cannabis market and of the recreational use of the drug. The ‘Züri Can - Cannabis with Responsibility’ study will start in the autumn of 2022, making different products available, each with a different THC/CBD content. Local manufacturers must have a production permit from the Federal Office of Public Health, ensuring quality standards. Consumers of cannabis products will also be limited to protect health, public safety and minors. (See also (in German): Was ist «Züri Can» und wer kann daran teilnehmen?)