Zurich has allowed the intake and dealing of cannabis on a test basis

March 27, 2023: The Swiss administration has approved plans to legalize the sale and intake of cannabis in a trial designed to gain the social and economic rewards of regulating the drug.

From this summer, a test people of 2,100 Zurich citizens will be permitted to purchase a regulated amount of the drug for personal use from pharmacies, dispensaries and social clubs all over the city.

Participants will be anticipated to answer a questionnaire every six months on their intake habits and health effects related to the study, which is happening in collaboration with the University of Zurich.

The trial ultimately aims to know the conditions under which legalization of weed in Switzerland can be okay with “promoting individual and public health and safety,” the study leaders stated. Evidence from the trial will be made on a rolling basis from next year.

“The idea is to get robust real-world evidence that serves policymaking for the recent regulation on cannabis,” Barbara Burri, project manager at the municipal health department of Zurich, stated.

The move comes as different parts of Europe are rethinking their weed regulation as a reply to broader global drug policy shifts.

Germany, Europe’s significant economy, is expected to introduce a bill to greenlight the consumption and cannabis sale within the coming weeks, an action that would make it the initial country in the EU to permit its commercial sale all over the nation.

The next Luxembourg and the Czech Republic have also proposed it decides to legalize cannabis for adult use.

Malta, the EU’s tiniest member state, 2021 is now the first country in the bloc to allow personal possession of the drug and private “cannabis clubs,” where people can grow and share the medicine.

Elsewhere, Canada, Uruguay and, recently, Thailand have gone to legalize the drug in the previous decade.

Zurich residents allowed to participate in the trial are invited to register, given they are active cannabis users age, have no underlying medical rules and are not now employed as professional drivers.

Nearly one-third of adults in Switzerland have tried cannabis, according to public health surveys. In Zurich, the most populous city with more than 420,000 residents, an estimated 13,000 residents are regular users in the country.

Many studies with public and university sponsors are planned in the cities of Basel, Lausanne, Geneva, Biel, Thun, Olten and Winterthur in the coming months.