We have been running our Hanfstübli, a cannabis social club, for 1.5 years as part of the „Züri Can“ pilot project. As part of this project, we are allowed to legally sell around a dozen tested varieties weed and hash to interested parties from the city of Zurich. Over 120 study participants are now entitled to purchase from us.
We have now reached the halfway point of the project, which is currently scheduled to run until October 2026. Of course, we hope that there will be an extension, but this will require coordination and agreement between many political and administrative bodies.
In any case, we have already experienced a lot and have been able to investigate many questions. For example, some varieties seem to be much better suited to commercial cultivation outdoors (or in a greenhouse indoors). Then the flowers differ in their appearance in terms of moisture or trimming accuracy. It took many trials and improvements before the consistency of hash was right, because the legal limit of 20 % THC poses a particular challenge for hash.
So we saw what works well, what doesn't work so well, what the participants say about the products and how they develop over the years. This is really concrete, not just theory! We were also able to exchange many experiences on alternatives to smoking (vaporize, food). Because even if legalization were to come: Harm reduction will be an important pillar of it.