Our interest: THC

Information: The text is translated and corrected, so the most important information is accessible. However, you will still find some PDFs or links to purely German pages. We ask for your understanding. If you want to help us with the further cleanup, send us a mail.

Many people use THC containing products medicinally or recreationally. But hash and weed are still illegal. Therefore, THC users face a variety of problems. We, the Legalize it! association, help people who use THC products with legal questions. For this purpose we offer personal consultations and written information.

We follow the political development surrounding hemp in Switzerland and publish our evaluations of it. Ultimately, we want to achieve the complete legalization of hemp - even if the path there remains long.

Our main topics can be reached via the six headings in the navigation at the top of the page (or in the hamburger menu on your cell phone). The quick navigation leads to the respective sub-topics of a main topic (here to the latest news from our association, the prosecution and politics). Below you will find all current information from the Legalize it! association.

News

07.11.2022 – SRF Impact on Cannabis Legalization

Already at the end of October, the team of SRF Impact had released a contribution, which has the smoking of pot and the cannabis legalization in Switzerland as a topic. Our active member Nino also had his say: Full report on youtube [Swiss-German] Nino's part

22.09.2022 - New summary penalty orders / documents 2022

The discussions about legalization and regulation of the cannabis market are interesting and important. But we would like to point out once again: These are discussions. In force is the same sharp narcotics law as it has been for years. Police forces and public prosecutor's offices also apply it! We have again put some examples of repression online. Here you can find the first summary penalty orders and documents from 2022 we received. More will follow… If you or someone you know has received such documents, we are always interested in receiving a copy.

08.09.2022 – Magazine Legalize it! No. 95 is published & No. 94 is online

These days our members have received the latest number 95 of our magazine Legalize it! The fall number contains a mix of topics: Politics, pilot projects, medical hemp, prosecution figures and an interview with a darknet cannabis buyer. We will make the full magazine available as a PDF in December.
Become a member so that you are always up to date (e.g. also by e-mail) - you thus enable our activities and support the association. Legalize it!

We have also pdf'd another issue of our magazine Legalize it! Issue 94 is now available for download, both as a whole and as individual articles in the areas of politics, justice, culture and scene.
The current issue (#95) is still reserved for our members.

06.09.2022 - Cannabis in everyday life

For the research project “Cannabis in everyday life”, we are looking for study participants who are willing to provide information about their consumption practices. Although the use of cannabis is widespread and relatively established in Switzerland, often only problematic use is studied. However, the researchers at the University of St.Gallen are not only interested in problems, but also in consumption integrated into everyday life.

To register for participation, a questionnaire should be filled out in advance at: https://www.fragnach.ch/cannabisalltag. On the basis of the completed questionnaires, persons will be determined who will then be invited to an oral interview.

20.08.2022 - First cannabis pilot project starts in Basel-City

The first cannabis pilot project in Switzerland starts in Basel-City!

On weedcare-basel.ch there are numerous details.

Residents in the canton of Basel-Stadt can register there now to be able to legally buy cannabis in 9 Basel pharmacies in the next 2.5 years.

More details about cannabis pilot projects can be found on our pilot project page, and our map of all Swiss pilot projects can be found at hanflegal.ch/map.

28.06.2022 – Association member goes to court (continued)

We already reported on this case on February 6 – now the decision has been made: The High Court does not accept Nino's complaint for formal legal reasons. The reason for this is that a test case is being sought and therefore there is no legally protected interest.
Or to put it another way: The accused had only handed over his cannabis to the cantonal police so that he could file a complaint afterwards…

So, unfortunately, this project is already finished - Nino has published his detailed analysis as a YouTube video. Fortunately – mainly due to the media presence in February – contact could be established with other persons whose cases are still pending or these defendants have now decided to file an appeal on their part. We will report on this again.

26.05.2022 – It was nice at the CannaTrade 2022!

Last week, after a two-year break due to the pandemic, the CannaTrade took place in Bern. Not only for us, but also for the visitors it was three interesting days!

We were able to talk to numerous interested people at our booth, answer questions, present our association and discuss about various aspects of hemp and its handling in Switzerland.

A big thank you goes to those members who actively helped and without whose commitment such a presentation would not have been possible. Thanks are also due to the CannaTrade team for a smooth running. The atmosphere was good and the rain came only on Sunday evening…

Next year the fair will take place again. It would be a pleasure for us to welcome you then at our booth. Legalize it!

08.04.2022 - The parliamentary initiative is one step further

Federal Palace “Regulation of the cannabis market for better youth and consumer protection”.

By 13 votes to 6 with 3 abstentions, the Commission for Social Security and Health decided to set up a sub-commission that will now tackle this work in concrete terms(media release).

However, there is no concrete time frame yet, and it is also not known what exactly the work of the sub-commission will be about. The next few months will bring more clarity. Nevertheless, on a political level, it is one of the most concrete attempts to make the handling of cannabis a bit more liberal.

For more information, see News → Parliamentary Initiative.

04/02/2022 - Legalization: possibilities and a beautiful variant

Bundeshaus We are asked the question again and again: When will cannabis become legal in Switzerland? This question is usually only aimed at the time dimension (yes, it will still take some time).

But what exactly does “legal” actually mean? As soon as cannabis is not completely forbidden, as soon as there is a permitted use, one can speak of “legal”. But what does this legal use look like in practice, and what areas does it cover? For example, are only farmers allowed to cultivate cannabis with a special permit, or are private individuals also allowed to do so? And are private individuals allowed to sell their harvest to friends? Or where is it allowed to consume? Only in private, or also in public?

There are many such questions of detail, and all can be regulated from liberal to restrictive. So before legalization can take place, society must agree on how to regulate the various issues.

On hanflegal.ch/legalization we present on some new pages first the bandwidths of the regulation possibilities as well as a concrete beautiful variant of legalization. We are happy to receive feedback.

27.03.2022 - Cannabis Social Club Permit 1 of 2 received!

Good news: The city of Zurich has given us the provisional permit – so our Cannabis Social Club will be one of 10 in the city 🎉

The next step is for the city's pilot project (including dispensaries, DIZ and social clubs) to be approved by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the Ethics Committee.

More general info can be found on our pilot project page.

If you are interested in joining our Cannabis Social Club, feel free to sign up on our waiting list!

13.02.2022 – Association meeting, dates and Legalize it! issue 93

Our association meeting already took place at the end of January. In one hour we did a lot: Last year's protocol and the annual report with the financial statements for 2021 were approved without dissenting votes (or abstentions) and the board was discharged.
In addition, the board was confirmed unchanged for another year (again without dissenting votes or abstentions).

We thank everyone for their support!

At its constituent meeting on February 4, the board then fixed the next dates in 2022: board meetings, member meetings, the spring vacations of the office and also special things, such as the hopefully again taking place fair «CannaTrade» (we will report).

Last week we focused mainly on finishing the latest issue of our magazine Legalize it!. It's now in print and should be available in early March.

06.02.2022 – Association member goes to court

Nino, a longtime association member, is challenging the seizure of a minor amount of cannabis for personal consumption: Article on watson.ch.

Furthermore, Nino has published a long video about it, in which he explains his action. We support this action and hope that this will lead to a change in practice and thus finally create more legal certainty.

05.02.2022 – Cannabis pilot trial in the canton of Basel-Land

Our own pilot project is limited to Zurich. Nevertheless, we always keep an eye on the situation in the whole of Switzerland. For our members and friends in the canton of Basel-Land we now have interesting news!

The Sanity Group is planning together with the Swiss Institute for Addiction and (ISGF) of the University of Zurich to conduct a cannabis pilot trial. For this purpose, they are looking for about 4,500 interested adults in the canton of Basel- Landschaft, to give them legal access to cannabis flowers and other products containing THC-containing products from Swiss organic production.

Until it actually starts, you can already register your interest here.

More details can be found in the full press release (PDF).

13.12.2021 – Check translations

In several steps we have translated our wiki to French and English. Many thanks to Michael for the extensive programming this took! Now we need people to read through parts or the whole again and check for errors and suggest improvements. Maybe you can help with this over the dark winter months?

The quick link to the French part is: www.hanflegal.ch/fr

The quick link to the English part is: www.hanflegal.ch/en

29.11.2021 – Current documents on hemp prosecution

Also in 2021, we have given advice to many repression victims. Our collection of summary penalty orders and other documents on hemp prosecution in 2021 gives an impression of what happened: dealing with the penalty-free small amount, extremely different procedures at hemp seed prosecution as well as standard-summary penalty orders.

Current summary penalty orders and documents (2021)

Summary penalty order collection 1994 to 2021

We are still very interested in such documents!

10.10.2021 – Cannabis pilot project: waiting list now open!

A good 80 members of the Legalize it! association residing in the city of Zurich have received an invitation from us to sign up on the waiting list for our planned Cannabis Social Club.

From autumn 2022, at least some of our members would be able to legally acquire and consume cannabis.

Those who reside in the city of Zurich and would like to join the waiting list are welcome to do so here. Even those who are not yet members of the association Legalize it! can sign up.

14.09.2021 – Pilot project in the city of Zurich becomes more concrete

Today it became known how the planned pilot trial in the city of Zurich will proceed.
In a joint media release, the city, the Psychiatric University Hospital and the pharmacy network announced further information on how the effects of regulated cannabis sales will be researched in a three-and-a-half-year study starting in the fall of 2022.
See also article on srf.ch and further info from the city of Zurich.
You can find more info on pilot trials with us.

08.09.2021 – Shipping Shit happens 14 & Update Wiki

Over the summer, we updated our legal aid brochure Shit happens and made some clarifications here and there. Now the 14th edition has been published and our members have received it via fall mailing.

The brochure is also available as a PDF in our wiki: Shit happens, Edition 14, Summer 2021. In addition, we have updated the THC&Law section of our wiki according to the changes in the brochure.

30.08.2021 – Merci for the support!

Thank you very much: Once again we were able to overcome a financial cliff. A big thank you to everyone who helped with the 2021 major gift collection! Now we can tackle the next quarters and projects. We are very happy about this and hope to be able to count on your continued support.

05.08.2021 – Major gifts collection 2021

Our members received the membership mailing this week. In order to overcome the next financial cliff and build a foundation for the next months, we ask in it for large donations. Until the end of August we need to find at least 5'500 francs to continue. It's always a tight squeeze, but we hope we can overcome this hurdle as well!

13.03.2021 – Medical hemp: Council of States unanimously in favor

Already on March 8, the Council of States unanimously followed the variant of the National Council in the debate on medicinal hemp (media release). Thus, the business is now ready for the final vote, which should pass without any problems.
You can find more information on medical hemp

06.01.2021 – Hemp no longer in the catalog of varieties and report on THC in the blood and driving.

Since 2021 hemp is no longer listed in the variety catalog and thus all hemp varieties that remain below 1% THC can be freely distributed. More information can be found at the Federal Office for Agriculture.

An interesting report from the Institute of Forensic Medicine of the University of Basel on the subject of THC in the blood and driving ability/ability to drive. However, we would like to point out: This is a discussion paper and not yet implemented in current law!

Fact sheet THC limits (short version), report THC limits (45 pages).