Our Hanfstübli: A successful first year

When we were allowed to hand out cannabis to the first members on August 22, 2023, we were very relieved to have reached this milestone. A year later, the processes have settled into place and we are a very successful part of the pilot project!

The excessive bureaucracy, excessive caution on the part of the authorities and the lengthy but ultimately unsuccessful search for our own club premises made it very difficult for us to start the project at all in the beginning. But the perseverance paid off. Now, one year after the start, after some negotiations, a lot of willingness to compromise and development, we are a small but important part of the Zurich pilot project.

Many kilos went over the counter

In the first year, we sold over 2,800 packs of 5 grams, i.e. more than 14 kilograms of cannabis flowers or hash, to our now more than 120 members. Before the project began, we conducted surveys to determine that each member would purchase an average of around 10 grams of cannabis per month. We are glad that we developed our financial planning based on the survey results: In reality, our members buy an average of 11 grams per month - spot on!

A manageable product range

In the beginning, only a few varieties were available. Our hash fans in particular were not convinced by the first products, Lemon Resin and Sour Pollen. Our study participants are used to hash in a different way - so from then on we sold these products as “Haschisch-Taler” (technical term: Pressed Pollen). At the end of the year, Grand Marais and Jura Gold were added, two new hash varieties that deserved the name.

There are currently eight varieties of cannabis flowers, two varieties of hash and two of pressed pollen. The supply is manageable, but it can stand up to the black market in terms of quality. The manufacturers are always striving to improve the products. We are looking forward to the two new flower varieties that will be introduced in the coming months.

A beautiful togetherness

We quickly got to grips with the initial hurdles and sources of error and found good solutions, especially thanks to Michael's online store. The Hanfstübli team of Sven, Sonia, Michael, Markus and Helmut is highly motivated and can work together efficiently. We are all clearly enjoying ourselves and we have gradually gotten to know and appreciate our members better. The atmosphere is very good and so far there have been no significant events to report. Occasionally, some members have had a clarification discussion with the study doctor based on the responses to the semi-annual online survey. In most cases, this was a misunderstanding. Only a single-digit number of members ended their participation in the study due to medical reasons, moving away, financial situation or similar.

The number of members has stabilized after the initial boom. We continue to accept around three new members per month. We have dispensed with major advertising campaigns; most new members come from existing members. After more than a year, we stopped looking for our own clubhouse because we were unsuccessful. Instead, our store in the base camp has been approved as a location until the end of the study. Even without a shared consumption room, we do justice to the “social” aspect in the name “Cannabis Social Club” by organizing regular events, excursions and other forms of member exchange.

Creative experimentation

We would have liked to get participants excited about vaporizing instead of smoking in a consumption room. Since the beginning of the year, our members have been able to borrow various high-quality vaporizers for little money and test vaporizing at home in peace and quiet.

In June, we were able to set up a stage in front of our clubhouse. We call it “Bühne beim Wäldli” because this small wood separates two base camp buildings and is a small forest island that characterizes our everyday base camp life. Between performances and events, this terrace has been furnished with tables and seating since June 2024 and invites you to linger in comfort.

Summer party

One highlight in 2024 was our summer party, which we organized together with our friends from the Züri City Social Club. This club started much later than us and therefore has significantly fewer members. That's why we showed solidarity: Züri City is helping us with the party and we are providing the funding.

On July 13, we invited the study participants from the various social clubs to our base camp area to enjoy drinks, a barbecue, a live band and several good DJs. The atmosphere was great and the members, who often only knew each other by sight, were able to get to know each other better. We were particularly pleased to see how well our participants got involved. Some provided lighting and decorations, others made salads or spent a long time helping at the barbecue, and towards the end one member even gave a spontaneous beatbox performance!

Thank you to everyone who took part - and of course especially to all the helpers!

A small association like many others

If the authorities would let us do more, impose fewer restrictions on us, we could take on more members. If we could find a location with consumption options: yes, then we could do and realize a lot more.

But it turned out that social clubs are classic, small associations, formed around a group of people who really want to do something that they truly believe in. But that demands a lot from everyone. A large part of the work, in addition to the partially paid workload, was done on a voluntary basis. For some of the team, this means hundreds of hours a year. A look at the finances also reveals the classic structures of small associations. Although the Hanfstübli is now financially stable thanks to its successful sales, the initial phase was only possible thanks to earmarked donations received by AssociationLegalize it for the implementation of the pilot project and the favorable subletting of Sonia's private work studio.

German cannabis social clubs will have a hard time

With our Hanfstübli, we have already gained initial insights into what club life feels like in a clearly structured and highly regulated environment. The cannabis social clubs that have been possible in Germany since July will have a much harder time, because the German rules are even stricter. While we can buy beautiful cannabis products from experienced producers, in Germany we have to grow our own - without the possibility of profit and with an extremely high level of control.

Only a few associations will find the necessary active members with enough know-how and stamina to keep such a complex task going on a permanent basis. Initially, high investment costs are to be expected and the bottom line is that it will not be profitable for many. Can it compete with the black market? But it will certainly be a way of enabling people with a thirst for action who have both feet on the ground to grow their own (shared) crops in a safe environment.

We have already seen this impressively in the Züri Can project: One social club has already had to abandon the project prematurely.

Sad certainty: the stigma lasts the longest

Legalization is actually a major goal for all of us. But the experiences in this legal pilot project show that the legal situation is ultimately only a small aspect of how cannabis is dealt with in society!

Time and again, we experienced prejudice, discrimination and exclusion. When looking for real estate, we repeatedly experienced rejections and ghosting despite a low-emission concept, and we were even regularly confronted with insults and attempts at intimidation! The financial institutions did not want to allow us to make credit card payments. TWINT only agreed to work with us after the study management paved the way. Insurance companies turned us down - and even after we were able to take out property insurance, we found that the same insurance company refused to provide us with liability insurance. This shows very clearly that if cannabis is legal at some point, we are far from finished. Our fellow human beings need to be informed, prejudices broken down and doors opened so that a legal hemp culture can actually emerge.

The time after the Hanfstübli remains uncertain

The Hanfstübli as part of the Zurich pilot project Züri Can will certainly sell cannabis for the planned three years. What will happen after that is not yet clear. At the moment, we have to assume that the Hanfstübli and all other outlets of the Züri Can project will then cease their activities completely.

Participants would therefore be forced to obtain their supplies on the black market again, with all the associated risks. Theoretically, the project could be extended until May 2031 at the latest with the goodwill of the city, university and FOPH. By then at the latest, a regulation would have to be established or a change in the law would have to come into force to prevent thousands of participants throughout Switzerland being forced back onto the black market. Heinz Siegenthaler's parliamentary initiative is currently the most promising development in the right direction. However, even if these efforts are successful, it is unlikely that they will be implemented before the end of the pilot projects. We are committed to ensuring that there is a follow-up solution!

Hanfstübli

Last modified: 2024/12/07 14:20

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Legal overview

Shit happens 15 (Summer 2023)

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