Drug policy
Valais closes the door to the legal cannabis sale
The canton maintains a hard line. State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer and the police chief firmly oppose the initiative.
The Valais authorities firmly reject the experimentation of legal sales of cannabis.
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The test of the Legal Cannabis Sale of Cannabis in Valais comes up against a categorical refusal of the cantonal authorities. While several Swiss cities like Lausanne, Bern, Bienne and Zurich have already launched similar projects in the context of scientific studies supervised by federal legislation, the canton of Valais refuses to embark on this path, according to information from «Walliser Bote» one you “Nouvelliste”.
The Valais project, in preparation for several years, was to be carried out jointly by HES-SO and Bergblüten Ag, a Haut-Valais company specializing in the CBD. However, in an exchange that the “Walliser Bote” was able to consult, the State Councilor Stéphane Ganzer closed the door abruptly to the project, declaring: “In my department, there is currently no interest in your project.” The elected PLR recalled its constant opposition to any form of liberalization of cannabis.
Commander of the Valais cantonal police, Christian Varone, also expressed his “unequivocal” refusal to participate in this pilot test. Figure of the Liberal-Radical Party like Ganzer, Varone describes cannabis “scourge” against which it is necessary to fight. According to him, such legalization would lead to a significant increase in consumption.
Despite the substantial investment of the Bergblüten AG company, which would have devoted more than seven hundred hours of work to the development of this three -year pilot project, the lack of political support and the police seems to definitively condemn the initiative. This situation contrasts with the opening manifested by other Swiss cantons which actively participate in the tests authorized by the Confederation to study the effects of a controlled distribution of cannabis.
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