Green light for green herb: “Cannabis will be legalized in the next four years”

In Switzerland they are proud of the variety of herbs – Ricola and Co. send greetings. However, this was never the case for one particular green herb: cannabis. The high-maker has been banned since 1951 and the current drug law has been in force since 1975.

But that should change soon. After numerous political initiatives failed in the past, the health committees of the National Council and the Council of States gave the green light to a parliamentary initiative by center-national councilor Heinz Siegenthaler during the last parliamentary term.

The initiative calls for regulation of the cannabis market to better protect young people and consumers and for the repeal of prohibition.

Manuela Weichelt, national councilor of Zug Green and member of the Health Committee, is a co-signatory of the parliamentary initiative. She tells Watson: “We expect cannabis consumption to be legalized within four years.”

The Greens have been trying to decriminalize consumption since 1993. Now the party has adopted a position paper on Friday calling for strict measures on what cannabis legalization should look like in Switzerland.

The Greens focus on protecting youth and healthcare and ending the black market. “We advocate a balanced approach between the current mafia-led black market, which the SVP allows, and an unregulated legal market, as the FDP demands,” says Manuela Weichelt.

The Green Party is in favor of “sales through state sales points”. Weichelt says: “Cannabis social clubs should also be preferred, but we don’t want private sellers and conditions like in Amsterdam or in some US states.”

At the same time, when legalizing cannabis, they call for “neutral packaging without brand logos”. Instead, information about low-risk consumption and addiction advice should be printed on the packaging. The Greens also want a “complete ban on advertising and sponsorship”. And: Sales should only be allowed to adults. To protect consumer health, the party is in favor of “strict information about cultivation, such as the regulation of additives”.

For the Greens, legalization is not about making a lot of money. “Our goal is not to stimulate consumption through legalization, but rather to promote a controlled market with as little risk as possible,” says Weichelt. What is therefore essential for the party is a so-called prevention tax on cannabis use, which is intended to finance advice and therapy services and addiction research.

“We do not expect billions in income for old age provision,” says the Green National Councilor. Weichelt does not believe that all these measures will have a major impact on the price of legal cannabis and will therefore keep the door to the black market open in the future. “Legal cannabis will be competitive. “But the biggest advantage is that you know it is manufactured safely,” says Weichelt.

With their measures, the Greens hope to finally achieve their thirty-year goal. But whether it will happen so quickly is still an open question. First, both councils must deal with the law. And if the SVP were to hold a referendum, the people would have to vote again on the legalization of cannabis. The project has failed twice in the past.