Spring 2009: A review of the hemp initiative

Now the vote is a quarter of a year behind us. From a certain distance, we look back, summarize and ask ourselves what the implications for the future might be. Here is an analysis of the hemp initiative.

No matter how you look at it, the hemp initiative was rejected. The positive points are quickly listed:

• Zurich is the only city to adopt the initiative. With 54.4% and 10,000 votes in the plus, another drug policy signal comes from the largest city in Switzerland.

• Hemp is far more accepted by the population than other illegal substances. The comparison with the 1998 vote on “sensible drug policy”, which wanted to legalize other substances, was won by 10.8 percentage points.
• No tiny minority voted yes, but 37% or even more than 850,000 people. This also means that the issue is not off the table.
• The forecast was initially much lower. 37% yes votes are too many to allow repression to continue as before.
• NZZ, Basler Zeitung: These two print media provided factual and also well-founded information about the initiative.

• Geneva, Bern and Basel: These major Swiss cities all rejected the initiative. It was a close call for Basel and Bern, but it would have been possible to pass the initiative.
• Western Switzerland and Ticino dropped off sharply. Above all, western Switzerland, with a minus 9% yes-vote difference to German-speaking Switzerland, was completely disappointing. Unfortunately, I did not follow the media and politics of Western Switzerland. But the result clearly shows that smoking pot is not socially accepted in this region.
• The opponents' arguments were characterized by irrelevance and hysteria. They were not above involving sects and right-wing extremists.
• Drug prevention agencies were primarily concerned with the Narcotics Act. To work intensively for the legalization of cannabis seems to be a political no-go for these organizations. It is true that most of these agencies have indicated that putting alcohol and cannabis on an equal footing would be beneficial to their work. But this was done so discreetly that it is not surprising that the initiative did not stand a chance.
• Youth associations, teachers' association rejected the initiative unanimously and with media attention. As if cannabis was the only drug and the most dangerous one. It is surprising that these associations did not take all the findings into account. The associations believed they had to take responsibility and pilloried hemp in particular. They did not consider that this would propagate the harmlessness of cocaine and alcohol in relation to cannabis. The mental approach of these associations is probably abstinence. As said a wishful thinking…
• Tages-Anzeiger, 20-Minuten, Blick, SF DRS: With minor exceptions, these media provided hardly any information and some of it was tendentiously lurid. In the Arena, there was only a half-time debate at a modest level.
• The SVP and CVP have joined forces in this debate. The SVP has once again arbitrarily discarded all its liberal approaches. The CVP has presented itself as a conservative party.
• Abstinence has become socially acceptable again, although only a minority can actually live this way.

Unfortunately, data on demographics is missing for this vote. One can assume that older people voted no more often and younger people voted yes more often. In this respect, this information would be exciting to see when Switzerland would be ripe for a repeat of the initiative.

The Teachers' Association, Pro Juventute and the Swiss Working Group of Youth Associations are launching an fixed penalties for adult smokers. At least this is an improvement of the current legal situation, but even here the resistance of the hardliners will be unbroken. So one can assume that until this still disproportionate legal status for adult smokers is enforced, a lot of water will flow down the Rhine.

Legalization for adult cannabis users is politically blocked for years, probably decades. Politicians, police and judiciary have all the means to prosecute and punish any THC-inhaling adult and always get it right. The stigma of smoking pot is omnipresent, no matter how else you live your life. Smoking a joint is and remains a criminal act. If you're caught more than once, you'll get a hefty fine (even if it's just one joint each time), a criminal record (even if you've only given away one joint), and problems with the DMV (even if you never drive stoned). Social exclusion is guaranteed. Repression cannot pursue everything, but when it strikes, the consequences are immense. Prevention work, as anchored in the narcotics law, is only a nice word in relation to cannabis - repression is the biggest problem here.

Young new drug users will either continue to try the legal route via alcohol, or they will check out the illegal market. Those familiar with the scene know that cocaine is cheaper and easier to obtain in Zurich than hash. If one continues to think about the media's adoration of this hip powder drug, it is clear what Switzerland can expect.

Our association with its members knows about the product cannabis. Even the most outrageous propaganda, the worst image, the thickest lies and all the so-called scientific analyses cannot dissuade us THC-users from enjoying it. However, we still have to live with the fact that we are socially defined as inferior people as a result of this life-affirming, transcendent pleasure.

The discrimination continues We are back somewhere in the evil past of discrimination. The stoner is an enemy image, as there have been and are many. We are persecuted as gays and lesbians used to be persecuted for their lifestyle. Of course, there are groups that are treated even more harshly and have to suffer more. But we also belong to those who are allowed to be beaten up. For many just: The scum of society. Wherever human rights were realized and protected, we stoners have none in relation to THC. Even the federal court doesn't want to change that.

Consolation of our attitude is: Foolish not to savor, try and experience the gift of human life, the incredible quality of the human brain. There may be other effective methods for such experiences, but THC enjoyment remains one of the simplest and least dangerous ways to experience consciousness as a human being. To prohibit THC is as if music were not allowed - an imposition.

The results in the districts of Switzerland are quite different: There are yes shares between 54.40 and 23.23 percent. The average for Switzerland as a whole is 36.81 percent. In total, there were 848,470 yes votes and 1,456,336 no votes.

The following figures are the provisional official voting results, with a correction for the district of Saanen, where the Yes and No votes were reversed.

All cantons rejected the hemp initiative. The canton of Zurich was the only one to achieve more than 40% yes votes (43.3%). Almost all other cantons ranged between 30 and 40% yes votes. Valais, Vaud and Neuchâtel did not even manage that and were below 30% yes votes, with Neuchâtel achieving the worst cantonal result with 28.5%.

For future political work, we have to ask ourselves where we can start. Western Switzerland is a tough place, as the above list of the worst districts clearly shows. Even in conservative religiously influenced districts we will hardly have a chance. To win a vote on THC you need clear majorities in the cities and their environs, and slim majorities in the rest of the German-speaking midlands. In this way, it might be possible to achieve both the popular vote and the majority of the cantons. We still have to analyze and discuss how the necessary additional 20 percent can be changed so that we can get from the current 37 percent to the target of over 55 percent yes. It can only happen with a clear (rather consumption than trade), clear (personal use for adults ok, distribution forbidden) and well communicated proposal.