12.12.2011 => Winter break until 20 January

After a busy year, we're treating ourselves to a few quiet weeks before we get back to work in January. Check out our agenda to see what we have planned for 2012. Between now and January 20, there will be no Friday meetings and we will not be able to provide legal advice. We will check the combox from time to time, but are most likely to be reached by mail - as we were in 2012. The board will use the time to tidy up the office, to close the year and to keep up with the various small and larger pending issues.

⇒ We wish you all relaxing winter days and a successful start into the next year!

09.12.2011 - Wiki meeting & bye-bye 2011!

The shipping on Friday was still quite heavy for two, but now the Legalize it! No. 57 is on its way. It should reach the readers around midweek.
Friday is the last official Friday meeting of this year. We turn again to the Wiki: Is everything à jour? If not, is it on the to-do page? These and the various “fixmes” would then have to be worked through - and with that, the wiki agenda for 2012 should already be pretty well filled. Even though such a wiki always requires hours of intensive work, it gives us a lot of pleasure! It gives us the possibility to collect and manage information relatively easily and cheaply and to make it available to the interested public.
Do you also want to help make our wiki more comprehensive and even better? There are many ways in which you could participate: from sending criticism and suggestions, to e.g. troubleshooting or proofreading, to researching topics and creating pages. This can be done from home or in our office. We are looking forward to your feedback!

07.12.2011 => Update "Cannabis as medicine".

Thanks to an interpellation from the ranks of cannabis opponents in parliament, the Federal Council announced detailed information regarding cannabis drops on 23.11.11. According to this, 81 applications were submitted to the FOPH in the first three months since the partially revised Narcotics Law came into force (1.7.11). A permit was granted for 76, while five were rejected. The majority of the exceptional authorizations went to patients with multiple sclerosis and spinal cord diseases. In the whole of Switzerland, there are apparently only two pharmacies that are allowed to produce or dispense THC medication - we are only aware of the pharmacy in Langnau. All involved need an exemption permit, the procedures are strictly regulated and everything is controlled by the FOPH.

The cannabis opponents started this interpellation because they assumed that far too many permits would be issued and that a new “cannabis problem” could arise. According to the information available, it can be assumed that only people with the most severe medical conditions have any chance at all of obtaining a permit. The nature or origin of THC drops has unfortunately been dealt with far too little. The fact is that (partially) synthetic preparations such as dronabinol (aka Marinol) are very expensive because they have to be laboriously “squeezed” out of low-THC commercial hemp. Depending on the dosage, this can result in costs of over 10,000 francs per year for seriously ill patients (or for the healthcare system) - just for the THC drops! Recently, there have been efforts to obtain cannabis drops again from more natural, THC-rich strains. This could not only save costs, but probably also improve the quality of the drops and ultimately significantly increase the benefit for the sick. However, the conditions are likely to be very strict and the hardliners will probably try to make everything even more restrictive. It remains to be seen how the whole thing will develop - we will keep you informed.

Regarding the fear of the cannabis opponents: It seems to me that droplets with 2.5% THC content - which cost over 400 francs for 10g - cannot be problematic in terms of a cannabis black market. Dear hemp opponents, for 400 francs you can get a lot more grams of material with a much higher THC content on the black market. Yes, on the black market, which you seem to prefer to a more controlled market. But it's no wonder: as long as the production of natural THC - even if more expensive due to illegality - is so much easier and cheaper than the pharmaceutical THC, as long as THC users, sick or not, will know how to help themselves with homegrown or imported goods from the black market. As usual, it is the weakest who suffer the most from a perverse policy: the seriously ill.

It isbizarre: The natural active ingredient THC or the hemp plant, which naturally produces it in abundance, is banned - in order to then extract THC from specially bred, low-THC commercial hemp, which is insanely expensive. So not only do we bear the costs for repression, but we also pay for overpriced THC drops from the same industry that played a major role in the demonization of cannabis - pretty blatant, isn't it?

02.12.2011 - Shipping Magazine Legalize it! No. 57

The last member event for the time being took place on Friday without any big fuss (from 2012 the events will be replaced by “member meetings”, see calendar). The planning for 2012 is completed and the board assumes that with the partly already initiated changes important information about cannabis & THC concerning politics, justice, culture and scene can be published also in the next year. We will also be able to continue to offer legal advice. The office presence will be slightly reduced and the events will become somewhat less elaborate meetings.
To the current: The Legalize it! Number 57 will be printed next week and should be ready for mailing on Friday, December 2. Helpers are as always welcome!

International: Patience with potheads is running out. (NZZ, 25.11.11)

Fall 2011

27.11.2011 => Update fixed penalty procedure

The Swiss political mills grind slowly: According to a media release, the National Council's Commission for Social Security and Health(SGK-N) took note of the Federal Council's statement (PDF) on its draft for an fixed penalty procedure (PDF), followed one proposal of the Federal Council and rejected another. Thus, the business can now go to the National Council. However, there is nothing (yet) on the program, 'only' on the list of business ready for discussion (PDF).
It will probably be 2012 and take even longer: The number of the business (04.439) already indicates it - this dates back to 2004, when the revision of the NarcA was refused by the National Council and thus only the basis for the hemp initiative on the one hand and the partial revision of the NarcA on the other hand was created (in force since 1.7.11). We will inform further.

25.11.2011 - Members event: Association Legalize it! in 2012

As announced last week, our last member event for the time being will take place at the end of November. However, this does not mean that we categorically exclude theme evenings - these will no longer be organized by the association itself due to time constraints.
⇒ If there are people who would like to give a lecture or lead a discussion, workshop, game evening, etc., we will be able to offer a platform for this next year as well. In the calendar the last Fridays of each month will show up as “members meeting” (except during the breaks).
There will already be some changes, but some of them have already been realized in the last weeks. With this we hope for a successful 2012!

18.11.2011 - Preparation member event: Association Legalize it! in 2012

Next Friday would have been the preparation of the 51st and for the time being last member event on November 25. The changes from 2012, their causes and future prospects will be the topic at the end of November. However, since half of the board will be missing and there is not much left to prepare, it will probably be a somewhat shorter evening.

Last Friday, the board was among itself - we further developed the Legalize it! No. 57 and again cleaned up some things, especially updating the to-do page. Some new items have been added. With the already existing topics that need to be worked on, this makes a huge pile of work that could or should be put into our wiki… Let's do it! Maybe with your help?

11.11.2011 - Wiki meeting, 11.11.11

In the course of October, the updated contents of the Shit happens 8.1 was transferred to the wiki. After final refinements and adjustments, all information from the Shit happens 8.1 is now also available in the Wiki. A big thank you goes to Priska and Sven!
Next Friday, 11.11, the wiki will be the topic again. Because even if we have already reached our goals in the wiki for this year, there is always something to do - if you also want to contribute, on site or virtually, you are cordially invited!

04.11.2011 - Finance

After celebrating various anniversaries last Friday, we turn back to the serious side of(club) life: the finances. The year is not quite over yet, but after ten months the situation for 2012 can be estimated quite well. How things will continue in detail will be the subject of the last official members' event of the year, on Friday 25 November.

28.10.2011 - Member event: Anniversary party

In the summer of 1991, a few pot smokers founded an association in Zurich. They wanted more than just to smoke pot (together): they wanted to exchange information and network. They wanted to organize themselves in order to achieve more together. They wanted to create more justice and acceptance for the - still today - discriminated group of THC users. Their goal was the complete legalization of cannabis. Even if this goal is still far away today, it is amazing and therefore all the more memorable that after this long time there is still an association that has been the successor of that circle of stoners through the ups and downs of the Swiss cannabis policy: the Association Legalize it! Even more than 20 years after the foundation of the first association, there are still people working for the same goals. If I have learned anything in the 15 years I have been involved, it is that nothing happens on its own - and if it does, then certainly nothing good…
There is another anniversary to celebrate: The first publication of our legal aid brochure “Shit happens” took place more than 15 years ago. First published in spring 1996, we have now reached number 8.1. Thanks to the adaptations to the partial revision of NarcA and our own printing, it is always up to date and offers unique information on the subject of “THC&Law”.

It may be due to our hedonistic attitude or the Friday meetings - but we don't celebrate very often… But as mentioned we would have had a lot to celebrate this year. But first there was the long summer break and then the somewhat stressful phase until Shit happens 8 came out. So now we celebrate at the end of October! Not only the pioneers of the 90s, but also Shit happens, 25 self-printed Legalize it! issues, more than ten years of the same board and finally - it was and is always a bit tight - we also celebrate that we still exist and that the autumn has certainly done the plants good.

21.10.2011 => Magazine Legalize it! No. 55 is online

We have pdf'd another issue of our magazine Legalize it! It is Issue 55now available for Issue 55 download both as a whole and as individual articles (in the areas of politics, scene and justice). The current issues are still reserved for our members. If you are interested, you are welcome to order a paper copy for free - or just browse through the older issues - a lot of information can be found in our THC-Wiki in the meantime.
On Friday we are preparing the member event of October 28th on the topic “Shit happens 8”.

14.10.2011 - Wiki meeting

We dedicate another Friday evening to our wiki. The new or updated contents - which are in the Shit happens 8.1 - has to be transferred step by step into the wiki. The raw text is already there, now paragraph and title control have to be done and some images and PDFs have to be produced.
It will take some time until the whole wiki - not only the pages coming from Shit happens - is updated… But we are of good cheer and expect the wiki to be “up to date” by the end of the year.

07.10.2011 - Finances

At last week's members' event we were a small group, but this was a good starting point to review the history of the partial revision of NarcA. A lot of time passed before the revised law finally went into effect on July 1, 2011. The Legalize it! has followed the whole process over all these years - you can also read about it in the wiki.

This Friday we once again turn our attention to finances. The printing of Shit happens 8.1 has certainly cost a lot, but we think that the advantages outweigh the costs - even if we will probably have to buy a new printer next year. This is the only way for us to be flexible and to be able to print and send updated copies (until a possible offset printing) without having to spend a lot of money at once and without having to store thousands of copies.

30.09.2011 - Member event: Partial revision NarcA

Three months after the new law came into force, a number of things should have become more concrete. We will look at the new medical uses and probably also deal with the new Code of Criminal Procedure (in force since January 1, 2011). Members can bring one interested person to each of the events.

09/23/2011 - Shit happens 8 & Shipping

In the months of July and August we also had some vacations, but we always stayed on our project: Shit happens 8 is almost finished! The last corrections have been entered, but unfortunately the printer broke down - Shit happens, you could say… Nevertheless, the shipment should take place in the course of September.

By the way, our legal aid brochure celebrates its 15th birthday this year! Shit happens 8 (more precisely 8.1) is up to date - not only concerning the partially revised NarcA. However, we have to wait and see how a number of points will come out in reality (implementation by the police, court rulings, licensing practice, etc.). We will therefore stay tuned and Shit happens constantly update with new findings. During the fall, we will also transfer the new content step by step to the wiki, so that current information is also available there for everyone.

During the summer we also upgraded the office technically, got an overview of the finances and discussed the procedure for the time from 2012. So a lot has happened! And even if the summer is now over, we hope for many more summery days that warm us and make the plants glisten!

Summer 2011

01.07.2011 => Summer break

Now begins the big Legalize it summer break. During this time, we will not hold any board meetings or member events on Fridays and will not provide any information by phone. However, we can be reached by e-mail from time to time. In addition, as in the previous summers, the board will hold individual meetings with members who are particularly interested and plan the further procedure from 2012. It is also important to bring the project Shit happens 8 project.

We wish you all a wonderful summer!

As of September 2, we will be back to normal.

24.06.2011 - Member event: Easy evening

Before the summer vacations, we meet for our tried and tested casual final evening. For the physical well-being is provided and Internet radio would also be available. Maybe we play again with our hemp games, depending on your mood. We hope to be able to welcome again some members!

17.06.2011 => Magazine Legalize it! No. 54 is online

We have pdf'd another issue of our magazine Legalize it! It is Issue 54now available for Issue 54 download, both as a whole and as individual articles (in the politics and scene sections). The current issues are still reserved for our members. If you are interested, you are welcome to order a paper copy for free - or just browse through the older issues - a lot of information can be found in our THC-Wiki in the meantime.
Friday is the preparation for the Easy evening of June 24. But since Easy-evenings don't really require preparation, it will be an Easy-evening already!

10.06.2011 - Wiki session / Shit happens 8

The Legalize it! No. 56 has been packed and should be with the readers by mid-week. Next Friday we will deal again with the wiki and the content of the legal aid brochure Shit happens. The road to the eighth issue is now becoming more concrete, but there is still much to do!
Politics is also making another step: The revised Narcotics Act with the associated ordinances will be put into force on July 1 (admin.ch or BAG). We have accompanied the whole partial revision and reported about it again and again, in Legalize it! and in the Wiki. During the summer it is now necessary to compile the various changes in the law, the ordinances and the new Code of Criminal Procedure (since 1.1.11) and to update Shit happens, so that we can present a version 8.0 in the fall.

03.06.2011 - Shipping Magazine Legalize it! No. 56

After the fun members' event with the card game grass, we turn again to one of our core businesses - the magazine Legalize it! Number 56, which includes articles on the 2010 repression statistics and part 2 of Bernard Rappaz's ordeal, is almost ready: the last corrections still need to be entered, then we will print, collate, staple and be ready for dispatch. This will take place on Friday, June 3. Helpers are, as always, very welcome!

Spring 2011

27.05.2011 - Member event: Playing on the theme of hemp

The preparations last Friday showed that we can expect a very amusing 47th member event: Three of us played grass for tens of hours - the board was crushingly beaten, but this did not diminish the fun. The last rule ambiguities are still being resolved and then nothing will stand in the way of a fun evening of games.

Unfortunately, there was not enough time for Grow A Million. If we don't play it at the event, there would still be the possibility of game evenings in June (17/24) instead of easy evenings - also for games not related to hemp (e.g. poker). Members can bring one interested person to each event.

20.05.2011 - Preparation member event: Playing on the theme of hemp

We are preparing the 47th member event on May 27. Again a premiere: we never had a hemp games evening before. The two games are on the one hand the over 30 years old card game grass and on the other hand the new board game Grow A Million, which comes from Switzerland and has already been called “Stoner Monopoly” in the media(20min.ch).

13.05.2011 - Wiki meeting

Even on a Friday the 13th we are not idle and once again take care of our wiki. New summary penalty orders have arrived, which can be reviewed and there are still some minor errors that need to be ironed out. So if you are interested in THC&Law and wikis or their combination - as we have realized it - you can expect an exciting evening.

06.05.2011 - Finance / Annual Report / Global Marijuana March

After last week's somewhat different member event, which was very interesting and thought-provoking, this Friday we turn again to the hard facts of association life: the finances. At this point, we would like to Annual report 2010follow up on the one that was published in March in Annual report 2010 Legalize it! No. 55 was published.
On Saturday, May 7, the annual Global Marijuana March will also take place. In Switzerland, we only know about the event in Bern: Starting at 12 pm, the Fourtwenty Growcenter at Dorngasse 10 invites to the party. The physical well-being seems to be taken care of. We wish a lot of fun!

29.04.2011 - Member event: Reading and discussion

On Friday, April 29, we will have our 46th member event - something different for a change: we will have Damian Bugmann have as guest. The writer and musician will read spiritual, psychedelic, erotic, political, economic and social critical stories and poems for awareness, civil courage and civil society.
We are very excited and look forward to lively participation. Members are welcome to bring an interested person.

22.04.2011 - Good Friday and Easter

Our office will be closed on Good Friday and over Easter. We wish everyone some sunny and relaxing spring days.

Preview: On Friday, April 29, there will be a member event by and with Damian Bugmann.

On Friday the 15th our first one has NZZ advertisementappeared, others will follow. We hope for attention and positive feedback.

10.04.2011 - Magazine Legalize it! No. 53 is online

We have pdf'd another issue of our magazine Legalize it! It is Issue 53now available for download both as a whole and as individual articles (in the Scene section). This issue is all about our projects, so the articles are filed in the 'THC scene' section.
The current issues are still reserved for our members. If you are not a member yet, you are welcome to order a paper copy for free - or just browse through the older issues. Meanwhile, a lot of information can also be found in our THC Wiki.

08.04.2011 - Wiki meeting

We will be looking at the content of our THC&Right wiki. The idea is to find errors and look for places that should be updated or reworded. Do you have the desire and talent to find errors? Active people with a flair for text who want to help out are most welcome! Virtual collaboration is also possible - just send us an email if you are interested.

25.03.2011 - Shit happens, Edition 7.3 now online & on paper / Member event: Shit happens 8

The updated version 7.3 of “Shit happens” can be ordered on paper or sucked from the net as a PDF. Your support will enable us to keep at it and publish an eighth edition adapted to the partially revised Narcotics Law at the end of 2011 or beginning of 2012!

As already mentioned, our 45th member event will take place at the end of March. It will be about the realization of the eighth edition of our legal aid brochure. Shit happens will be discussed. The preliminary clarifications have been completed so far, now we will make the final decision on the production: number of pages, circulation, costs. This will certainly include the THC&Law Wiki and the numerous folders with basic information.
As far as the content is concerned, some adjustments will also have to be made: The partial revision of NarcA, as well as the associated ordinances bring some innovations. Also, the parliamentary initiative 04.439, which includes the fixed penalty principle, is still on its way.

14.03.2011 - CannaTrade 2011 will NOT take place

The CannaTrade 2011 in Zurich will unfortunately not take place. We hope it works out 2012 in Zurich and would be happy to be there!

11.03.2011 - Preparation member event Shit happens 8

We are preparing for the 45th member event on March 25. It will be about the realization of the eighth edition of our legal aid brochure. Shit happens will be discussed. Also our THC&Legal Wiki and the numerous folders with basic information will be a topic again.

04.03.2011 - Shipping Magazine Legalize it! No. 55

The Legalize it! No. 55 will be printed soon. Next Friday we will send it out. Helpers are always welcome!

Winter 10/11

25.02.2011 - Member event: Recruit members

We will learn how to effectively recruit members - both privately, at a trade show, at a booth, etc. Guests who have experience with trade fairs or in canvassing would be particularly interesting. Or also non-members are cordially invited - they can be convinced of the advantages of a membership and thus experience our progress 1:1…

18.02.2011 - Preparation member event: Recruit members

Next Friday we will prepare the membership event on the topic of recruitingmembers. This will take place on 25.2.

10.02.2011 - Magazine Legalize it! No. 52 is online

We have pdf'd another issue of our magazine Legalize it! This is Issue 52now available for download both as a whole and as individual articles (in the areas of politics, scene & justice. The current issues are still reserved for our members. If you are not a member yet, you are welcome to order a paper copy for free - or just browse through the older issues. Meanwhile, a lot of information can also be found in our THC Wiki.

02.02.2011 - Association meeting 2011

Our association meeting 2011 has taken place and was held in a convivial atmosphere. The invoice has been approved and the annual report 2010 has been taken note of. Sven and Fabian were unanimously confirmed as board members for another year. We are looking forward to a hopefully successful year!

28.01.2011 - Association meeting 2011 on 28 January

Our VV will take place next Friday. In the Legalize it! 54 we have printed the detailed invitation with the agenda. All members are cordially invited to review the year 2010 and to elect the board for 2011.