The Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP), the public health center of the Swiss federal government, approved on Tuesday 21 March the city of Zurich’s project “Züri Can – Cannabis with Responsibility”, aimed at launching a pilot program for consumption and sale of cannabis, which should begin this summer.
The study, a collaboration between Zurich City Council and University Hospital Zurich, will examine how participants’ consumption and health are affected by the purchase of selected cannabis products from controlled cultivation under controlled conditions. regulated, in order to provide relevant information on how best to deal with cannabis.
Zurich is the second Swiss city to participate in the pilot program to study the effects of the legalization of cannabis in Switzerland. The first trial, which involves around 400 participants, was launched in the city of Basel.
3000 participants in this legalization experiment
Up to 3,000 residents of Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, will be able to purchase defined amounts of cannabis for personal use under a three-year program starting this summer. In exchange, they will have to complete a questionnaire every six months on their consumption habits and their state of health.
As with the various legalization pilot tests in Switzerland, only people over the age of 18 and already cannabis users can participate in the program, with the exception of pregnant women or professional drivers.
Participants in the experiment will be able to buy cannabis in pharmacies, special dispensaries or Cannabis Social Clubs located throughout the city of Zurich. A total of 21 cannabis supply points are expected to be available and begin selling in August 2023.
Legal cannabis sold in Basel (Switzerland)
The prices of cannabis products will be regulated and set at the level of the black market price. Several cannabis flowers, with varying concentrations of THC and CBD, and resins will be legally available and must be produced organically by licensed Swiss companies.
After obtaining government approval, Pure Production AG and Swissextract, the two producers, can start cultivating the Cannabis plants needed for the study. The first harvest is expected to take place in July 2023, while hash products, which take longer to produce and require more complex processing, are expected to be available in the second half of October 2023.
