The Swiss Federal Commission on Issues Related to Addiction and the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases (CFANT) expressed its support for the legalization of cannabis in a press release from the Swiss Federal Council.
The Swiss parliamentary committees have already given the green light to the legalization of cannabis, a regulation which would therefore go further than the current experiments in the controlled distribution of cannabis, which are slow to start due to quality problems with cannabis and its products.
“The current cannabis policy is unsuitable,” says the CFANT, which also points to the health risks. To prevent consumers from being exposed to potentially dangerous products, “the cannabis market must be legalized and regulated”.
The simple decriminalization of consumption, the possibility of growing at home or selling through the health system “does not constitute a credible alternative to the black market. Nevertheless, underlines the commission, “nothing justifies encouraging the consumption of this medicine”, which should therefore not be promoted.
The commission is therefore positioning itself for the control of cannabis by making it accessible without advertising it.
Zurich and Basel, the first cities to experiment with the legal distribution of cannabis
Last year, the federal government announced its intention to relax the rules for medical cannabis and end cannabis prohibition. Last October, the Committee on Social Security and Health of the Council of States recommended that Switzerland legalize cannabis.
Previously, the public health commission of the National Council in Switzerland had given its approval. The government must now start drafting a bill, but it has decided to experiment first.
If the Basel and Zurich experiments have been postponed, in the first case because pesticide residues were found in the grass, the number of participating cities will lead to an experimental network that can facilitate the implementation ultimately of a federation-wide legalization of cannabis.
