Current info association Legalize it!

On the “News” page, you can find what has been going on with us. We also try to provide updates, links & reminders to various topics.

Contributions from previous years:

2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
2018	2017	2016	2015	2014
2013	2012	2011	2010	2009

Autumn 2024

10.09.2024 – Magazine Legalize it! No. 103 is published & No. 102 is online

Our members are currently receiving the latest issue 103 of our magazine Legalize it! The fall issue contains a mix of topics: The invitation to our info evening on November 1st, the prescription of buds for medical purposes, the hemp-prosecution 2009-23 (with a focus on age and weed/hash) as well as a report on the first year of the «Hanfstübli» as part of the city of Zurich's pilot project. The complete magazine will be available as a PDF from December.
Become a member so that you are always up to date (e.g. also by e-mail) – you make our activities possible and support our association. Legalize it!

We have also published another issue of our magazine Legalize it! as PDF. The issue 102 is now available for download both as a whole and as individual articles in the areas of politics, justice, culture and the scene. The current issue (#103) is still reserved for our members.

03.09.2024 – Knabenschiessen

September 9 is a public holiday in the city of Zurich (Knabenschiessen). Our office will therefore be closed on this afternoon. Otherwise we will be available as usual on Monday, Tuesday and Friday afternoons in the office and by telephone (079 581 90 44).

Summer 2024

23.08.2024 – One year Hanfstübli

On August 22, 2023, we started selling cannabis to our study participants. We have now been on the road for a year. We are delighted to have achieved this!

Our picture shows the strains currently available. 120 people are now taking part. The study will continue for another two years.

A longer article on our experiences after one year of sales will follow in the next Legalize it! 103. For further information: Hanfstübli

20.08.2024 – Hemp info event on November 1

We would like to invite you to our information event on November 1, 2024!

The topics of legalizing cannabis, promoting hemp culture, stopping prosecution THC and the experiences with the pilot projects are on the agenda.

If you can help us with advertising, we would be delighted!

You can order flyers (A6) to put up and posters (A3) to hang up. Please send us an e-mail with the quantities you need.

For electronic advertising, you can email our PDF of the flyer or copy the following link into an email: hanflegal.ch/flyer111

Would you like to take part in our event? (in German)

Simply register!

13.08.2024 – Hemp festival Hemparade on August 31

At the end of August it's time again: The Hemparade takes place on August 31st. Hemp stands, lectures, food and drink, glass blowing, live music, chill area, dab bar and much more await the visitors.

Unfortunately we cannot give a lecture this year due to time constraints, but we wish a successful event!

More information on Hemparade.ch.

06.08.2024 – Vacation ended

Our secretary was able to enjoy a few days off, but now it's back to normal!

Our office can be reached by phone as usual on Monday, Tuesday and Friday afternoons (079 581 90 44). You are also welcome to send us an e-mail.

29.06.2024 => Summer break office July 1st to August 4th

From July 1st to August 4th, the office will be in vacation mode. We can be reached by phone on Fridays in July. Outside of these times, the best way to contact us is by e-mail.

From August 5, the office will be open again as usual (Mon, Tue & Fri, afternoons).

We wish you all a good summer!

25.06.2024 – Field report on hemp as medicine

Since 2022, exceptional authorization is no longer required for the medical prescription of products containing THC. Flowers can now also be prescribed. One affected person has written a comprehensive report on her experiences: From the diagnosis to the prescription of THC drops at the time to the current prescription of flowers to the assumption of costs by the health insurance company. This report gives a good insight into the possibilities and difficulties of the medical use of THC. If you have also had experience with medicinal hemp, we are very interested in your report.

18.06.2024 – First part of our advertising campaign

Thanks to a generous donation, we are able to carry out various advertising campaigns this year.

In the second half of June, we will have 3,500 of our flyers placed in over a hundred locations in Zurich. If you spot our flyers at one of these locations, please send us a photo! This is the first step in our 2024 advertising campaign.

By the way: If you have or know a place where we can also put up flyers, please get in touch. We will then send you a pack of flyers.

After the summer vacations, we will be setting up in Aarau, Basel, Bern, Lucerne and St. Gallen. We hope to gain new members and active participants and perhaps also one or two donations!

This will be followed in the fall by a poster campaign for our event on November 1 (more to follow).

11.06.2024 – Magazine Legalize it! No. 102 has been published & No. 101 is online

Our members are currently receiving the latest issue 102 of our magazine Legalize it! The summer issue contains a mix of topics: the product range in the Legalize it Social Club (pilot project), a first look at the prosecution figures for 2023, the first (of many?) articles on the situation in Germany and a definition of terms. The complete magazine will be available as a PDF from September.
Become a member so that you are always up to date (e.g. also by e-mail) – you make our activities possible and support the association. Legalize it!

We have also published another issue of our magazine Legalize it! as PDF. The issue 101 is now available for download both as a whole and as individual articles in the Politics and Scene sections – the main section consists of the Annual Report 2023. The current issue (#102) is still reserved for our members.

04.06.2024 – Findings at CannaTrade

The CannaTrade ended a few days ago. The hemp fair was a little smaller this year, but we still spoke to many new and familiar people.

We sensed a certain euphoria in some of them: if Germany has taken steps towards legalization, then things will progress here too? But we have to make a skeptical remark: Just because the federal administration and the sub-commission are working something out doesn't mean it will turn out well.

We remember: in 2004, the National Council scuttled all the discussions, reports and work of the administration since 1996 in two votes, see article in LI30. That was that!

Now most people are again hoping that it will work out easily. But at the panel discussion on the topic at the CannaTrade, it became clear that the sub-commission has not yet even addressed such fundamental questions as taxation (this would probably require a constitutional article and thus a majority of the cantons in a vote, which everyone considers unrealistic) or whether outdoor and/or indoor cultivation should be legalized. So there are still many unanswered questions. The sub-commission's proposal is due to be published in the fall, when we will be able to find out more.

We really think that we urgently need a few hundred people across the country to campaign for a change. That means taking part in podiums, standing on street stalls, writing letters to the editor, giving interviews, managing social media and, ideally, standing there with their picture and name and representing the cause. Otherwise, we fear there will be no successful vote (and it is practically certain that a vote will be held).

At the CannaTrade, we unfortunately did not sense any willingness to tackle this effort. That is why we are not euphoric.

Spring 2024

28.05.2024 – Our filing system

Priska and Sven have been adding to our archive every one or two months for many years. Our archive now contains 38 folders on the subject of law, five on international affairs, twelve on politics and seven on miscellaneous. We file newspaper articles, reports, experiences, concepts, legal texts, reports, interpretations and much more. From biochemistry to youth, from road traffic to CBD hemp, from international to trade, from celebrities to opinions.

Hemp and its subtopics really are a broad field! If you would like to take a look at our archive, you are welcome to register for a members' meeting.

21.05.2024 – Consideration and compromises

It is not always easy for consumers and non-consumers to live together. We are increasingly receiving two types of requests:

Consumers who feel under pressure from their neighbors because of the smell and smoke they produce (property management, disputes, police).
Non-consumers who want to find out what options they have to combat the stench without having to call the police.

(Incidentally, the whole thing is even more complicated because there are also consumers who are bothered by consumption by other consumers - especially if it lasts all day).

We then try to present vaporizing as an alternative to smoking. In our experience, this change completely solves the problems surrounding nuisance: vaporizing produces such low emissions that there is no longer any real odor nuisance, even in the same apartment.

It is a little more difficult when growing your own (especially if no odor filter is used, for example on the balcony). There is no smoke, but the smell can be very penetrating.

We would like to explore this topic, which is coming up more and more frequently in our consultations, in greater depth and hope for your input:

Have you had experiences with neighborhood problems because of cannabis? If so, we would be happy to receive a summary of what happened and whether a solution was found that was accepted by all. The more such descriptions we receive, the better our overview of the topic will be!

14.05.2024 – Overview and implementation aid CBD

The Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products Swissmedic, the Federal Office of Public Health FOPH, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO and the Association of Cantonal Pharmacists KAV jointly publish guidelines for the handling of CBD and other cannabinoids that are not subject to the Narcotics Act. A revised version 7 was published in April 2024. If you want to know how this area is regulated by many laws, you should read this PDF.

07.05.2024 – Consider our company members!

Our Association has two membership categories: Private members and corporate members. Both receive our information (magazine Legalize it!, legal overview Shit happens, e-mailings) and can participate in our activities.

We also list corporate members on our company list. If you need something and want to make a purchase, we ask you to look at our corporate members first!

30.04.2024 – Opening hours May

Our spring break is over and the office is open again on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays in the afternoon (phone 079 581 90 44).

The office will be closed on public holidays in May (May 1, Ascension Day, Whit Monday).

We will probably not be in the office on Friday, May 10 (Friday after Ascension Day).

On Friday, May 24, the CannaTrade starts and we can only answer the phone temporarily.

23.04.2024 – CannaTrade from May 24 to 26

As already announced at the end of February, this year's edition of the Swiss hemp trade fair CannaTrade will take place:
From May 24 to 26, in Hall 622 in Zurich-Oerlikon, we will once again have the opportunity to explore and experience pretty much everything to do with hemp.
The trade fair is easy to reach by public transport, as it is right next to Oerlikon station.

In addition to the numerous stands of exhibitors from all over the world, there will once again be a spacious open-air chill-out area with a wide range of culinary delights. There will also be a rich supporting program again this year, covering a wide range of interests. The Joint Roll Contest and the CannaSwissCup are just two of many events, including lectures and panel discussions. On Saturday, for example, 'our' Sven will be taking part in the panel discussion on «40 years of Nachtschatten Verlag: from prohibition to legalization».

We are already looking forward to three unforgettable days on the subject of hemp!

16.04.2024 – Narcotics statistics 2023: Preview

The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) had already published the narcotics statistics (BMS) for 2023 at the end of March. In the meantime, we have been able to update our documents and in Legalize it! No. 102 we will publish a first article with these figures. As has been the case for years, this will be a general overview with initial estimates. A more specific analysis of, for example, the differences in the prosecution of weed and hashish is planned for the fall (LI103).

But this much can already be revealed at this point: The figures have fallen by around two thirds since the highs in 2015 – but there were still just under 20,000 criminal offenses reported in Switzerland in 2023! And this is without the figures from the fixed penalties published by the FSO only up to 2021. This means that almost 55 cannabis-related offenses are still reported every day in this country! The future will show how far these figures will fall before the trough or legalization is reached.

Become a member and stay up to date – also with regard to repression and how to avoid it!

09.04.2024 – Germany: initial findings

As mentioned last week, Germany is making some changes to the way it deals with cannabis. However, the cultivation clubs planned from July will only be available to members with a German residence (stores are not provided for in the current law).
We advise against simply taking your own «material» across the border in order to consume it «legally» in Germany – import and transit is and remains illegal (freiburger-nachrichten.ch).

German customs already clearly stated this on its website on April 1: «In contrast, the import, export and transit of cannabis remains prohibited and is punishable by law.» Or also: «Customs therefore expressly warns consumers against importing cannabis purchased abroad into Germany in order to avoid criminal consequences.»

So, for the time being, (almost) everything remains as it was for users from Switzerland with regard to Germany – namely illegal!

⇒ Addendum from April 10: Cannabis: Hemp friends warn against stoner trips to Germany (nau.ch)

02.04.2024 – New regulation of cannabis in Germany

Since yesterday, our neighbors in Germany have had new rules for cannabis and its consumption (tagesschau.de, watson.ch, srf.ch, legal text). However – and we have already had quite a lot of experience with this in Switzerland – it will take a few years for the new situation to really «solidify» in everyday life. In the meantime, a lot can still happen – or not. Aside from a new government, for example, local law enforcement agencies are also likely to play an important role, as they are on the front line and responsible for the actual implementation.
Here in Switzerland, it took ten years and various federal court rulings before the handling of the fixed penalties and small quantities was really clear to everyone and implemented in line with the legislators' intentions. But as life goes, the fixed penalties had lost importance in the meantime anyway and their number has not even been published by the Federal Statistical Office since last year.
But for now, we are happy for our brothers and sisters in Germany and hope that the new approach can ease the knotty situation with cannabis somewhat. However, it will take a while for people to leave decades of repression behind them – and as soon as this is achieved, something else will probably apply again. We will stay tuned and report on this.

26.03.2024 – Reduced opening hours in April

We are taking a few days' vacation until April 26: Our secretary needs some rest.

But our office is open every Friday (April 5, 12, 19, 26) and then we can also be reached by phone.

We wish everyone happy spring days! Afterwards we will be back in the office as usual on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

19.03.2024 – Facilitation for medicinal hemp

We have revised our page on hemp in medicine. Since August 2022, an exceptional license is no longer required for the prescription of medicines containing THC.

However, doctors still rarely issue prescriptions for such preparations. The cost of these drugs is very high due to all the regulations. The health insurance companies do not have to reimburse such preparations either, so patients usually have to pay for them themselves.

We would like to present such a prescription process with as many details as possible: Personal experience, copies of the documents, prices of the medication, if necessary also clarification of fitness to drive. We can anonymize the documents before publishing them. If you have had such experiences or know someone who has, please let us know.

06.03.2024 – Magazine Legalize it No. 101 has been published & No. 100 is online

Our members are currently receiving the latest issue 101 of our magazine Legalize it!
The spring issue contains – as has been the case for a long time – mainly the annual report and financial statements of the past year. We will make the complete magazine available as a PDF from June.
Become a member so that you are always up to date (e.g. also by e-mail) – you make our activities possible and support Association. Legalize it!

We have also published another issue of our magazine Legalize it! as PDF. The anniversary edition 100 is now available for download, both as a whole and as individual articles in the areas of politics, culture and the scene. The current issue (#101) is still reserved for our members.

05.03.2024 – Another initiative written off

As expected, the National Council today rejected the initiative of the canton Solothurn to legalize cannabis.

A sub-committee has already been working on this issue for over two years. The initiative was intended to support this process.

It is truly incredible how many initiatives, discussions and reports on the subject of hemp legalization have already been collected: You can find an overview here.

So a lot is being said and written. But the cannabis ban is still in force and the sub-commission has not yet published a proposal for a new legal text. It would really be appropriate to take at least one concrete, small step now. We have a proposal for minimal freedom.

Winter 23/24

27.02.2024 – CannaTrade 2024 in May

In three months, the legendary Swiss hemp trade fair CannaTrade will be over again!

From May 24 to 26, we will once again have the opportunity to explore and experience pretty much everything that has to do with hemp.

This year, the trade fair will once again take place in Hall 622 right next to Zurich-Oerlikon railroad station – making it extremely easy to reach by public transport.

In addition to the numerous stands of exhibitors from all over the world, there will once again be a spacious open-air chill-out area with a wide range of culinary delights. There will also be a rich supporting program again this year, covering a wide range of interests. The Joint Roll Contest and the CannaSwissCup are just two of many events, including lectures and panel discussions (details to be announced).

We are already looking forward to three unforgettable days on the subject of hemp!

20.02.2024 – Half a year of Hanfstübli

Our cannabis pilot project has got off to a good start and we can draw a positive conclusion for the first six months. In total, we have sold over 5 kilos of weed flowers and hash (in over 1,000 packs).

We are pleased that most of the products have been well received by us and the participants. We are looking forward to the next selection and harvest for the less successful products.

We would like to thank our current 100 or so participants for their good cooperation and are already looking forward to the remaining 50 latecomers (we still have free places!).

Since we were unable to find a consumption room, we are planning to hold some events instead.

13.02.2024 – The Legalize it! 101 is in print

Yesterday, we sent the 101st edition of our association magazine Legalize it! to the printers. The content mainly consists of the annual report and the 2023 annual financial statements as well as the minutes of our 2024 annual asscociation meeting at the end of January. Packaging is scheduled for March 1, and the new issue will reach our members around a week later.

We can still use a few more nimble hands: If you would like to help with the mailing, please get in touch!

06.02.2024 – New dates for our member meetings

We hold a meeting for our members about once a month. We don't usually have a fixed list of topics that we work on. It's more about an informal exchange.

However, our first meeting in 2024 on February 16 will mainly be about vaping: We will have both devices and experienced vapers on site and will provide an insight into this interesting form of consumption. If you are interested, please register, as space is limited.

Our next dates: March 22, April 19, May 3 and June 21

30.01.2024 – Our association meeting 2024 has taken place

We held our 2024 association meeting on January 26. We reviewed the 2023 annual report and adopted the annual financial statements. Our current board of directors was confirmed for another year. We are currently finalizing the minutes of the meeting. We will publish all the details in the Legalize it! 101, which will reach our members at the beginning of March. It was a pleasant meeting and we had a lively exchange of ideas. We look forward to the 34th year of our association!

23.01.2024 – Saddle fit in English?

We are looking for one or two active people to check the translated pages for our websites in English. Are you fluent in English? Do you like working on and with the language? Are you not afraid of a few defined legal terms? Do you have a few hours every three months to help improve the new pages? Then please get in touch!

16.01.2024 – Experiences in the pilot project

As part of the Zurich cannabis pilot project “Züri Can”, we are allowed to sell products containing THC. Since the end of August 2023, we have sold 4.5 kg of weed and hash at our Hanfstübli. We were able to distribute 900 packs to our almost 100 study participants. In relation to the entire (black) market, this is of course almost nothing. However, we have gained a wealth of experience through interviews with interested parties, the entire process up to the issue of study ID cards, orders for goods and the track & trace system used to monitor distribution.

And of course also about the appearance, smell, effect and evaluation of the currently eight, soon nine varieties that we are allowed to offer. Such projects are now running in several cities or will start in the foreseeable future. We believe that participation is a unique opportunity to obtain controlled and tested goods and thus gain experience for possible legalization. What do we want: which products, which supply options, what should the relationship between freedom and control be? The more concrete experience many people gain, the more concretely we can campaign for this.

09.01.2024 – What will the new year bring?

We hope you have arrived safely in the new year. Our secretary Sven can now be reached by phone again on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays in the afternoon. What's coming up in the first half of 2024?

The Executive Board is currently preparing the 2023 annual financial statements and finalizing the annual report.
Our club meeting will take place on January 26 and will deal with these figures and events. Members are welcome to register.
Four more issues of our magazine Legalize it! are planned (No. 101 in March, 102 in June, 103 in September and 104 in December).
We are curious to see whether the sub-commission will come forward with concrete proposals for legalization or whether it will brood quietly for another two years.
We absolutely want home cultivation to be free, regardless of whether greater decriminalization comes about. This minimal freedom must just be! We are in the process of formulating this point in detail.
The 2023 hemp prosecution statistics will be published at the end of March and we are curious to see whether the decline in prosecution continues, i.e. whether the number of prosecutions has fallen further.
We are still very interested in documents on repression (summary penalty orders, protocols) and reports of experiences.
The CannnaTrade hemp trade fair and festival will take place from May 24 to 26. One topic will certainly be whether Germany has effectively decided something by then. Or was it all just talk? We are really looking forward to it!

Contributions from 2023

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