Legalization of cannabis
Police and addiction specialists in common cause in Lausanne
Cannabis could soon be legalized in Switzerland. A pilot test in Lausanne serves as a model to respond to growing drug -related violence.
Frank Zobel (left), Vice-director of the Swiss Addiction Foundation, and Sébastien Dyens (right), chief of the Child Police Brigade in Lausanne, in the Cann-L store, where the legal cannabis sale is tested.
Yvain Genevay/Tamedia
- The Cann-L pilot experience in Lausanne has been testing the legal cannabis sale for 18 months.
- Experts note that a million francs are now escaping the local black market.
- Consumers favor products that are less dosed in THC for their health.
- Violence linked to cannabis traffic intensifies in French -speaking Switzerland.
The head of the Lausanne municipal police drug brigade savor an espresso while cannabis is sold next to him. “All this is not natural,” says Sébastien Dyens smiling. His job is to fight against the drug traffickingbut today, the commissioner is participating in a successful experience of trade in narcotics.
By his side, Frank Zobel, one of the most famous drug experts in Switzerland and vice-director of the Swiss Addiction Foundation. “A cannabis bag for the photo?” he jokes. Both burst out laughing.
They pose for the photographer in the store Cann-L. For 18 months, the city of Lausanne has been carrying out a legal sales experience of cannabis under scientific supervision. This is one of the seven pilot projects in Switzerland. Experts and politicians hope that this will have a significant impact on upcoming regulations. Consultation on federal law relating to cannabis products will start at the end of August.
Cann-L is considered, like the Geneva project, as a reference model for the legalization of cannabis. Both are for strict regulation by the state.
According to Barbara Gysi, Socialist National Socialist Councilor of Saint-Gall and president of the Social Security and Public Health Commission: “Cann-l is an exciting project, which has already contributed significantly to legislative work by its first conclusions. He shows how advice can lead to more responsible consumption. “
Key elements of the Lausanne project already appear in that of the federal law.
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The sale of cannabis should not have the primary objective of profit.
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Advertising for cannabis products is prohibited.
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The products must be described objectively, without including elements related to the brand.
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The cantonal authorities are responsible for the organization of the sale. They can either manage it directly or grant a concession to individuals.
“For too long, drugs were considered either exclusively from the angle of public health, or only from the police point of view,” explains Frank Zobel (left).
Yvain Genevay/Tamedia
Frank Zobel is the initiator of the Lausanne project, while Sébastien Dyens, commissioner, is part of the association’s committee which carries out the test. Their unusual collaboration constitutes the foundation of the Lausanne approach. “For a long time, we considered the drugs only from two angles: that of public health or that of the police we now aim to reconcile these two approaches,” underlines Frank Zobel.
One million subtracted in the black market
The two men know each other well. They have already collaborated on a major study on the drug market in the canton of Vaud. It precisely exposed the course of the substance, from its arrival on the local market via the dealers to consumers, thus revealing the extent of trade and the consumption of drugs in the Canton. A unique approach in Switzerland and Europe.
The Cann-L project also studies the impact of the legalization of cannabis on the black market. We estimated that during the first year of the project, around a million francs in turnover was subtracted to the black market. “This figure increases each year,” adds the deputy director of Swiss addiction.
Currently, 1,500 consumers are registered with Cann-L. According to polls, two thirds of them never buy or that very rarely on the black market. Overall consumption has remained stable. This has changed, on the other hand: products containing less THC are now more frequently consumed, which reduces health risks.
Here is what a cannabis sachet sold in the Lausannois store Cann-l looks like. Next to it, you can see a membership card that authorizes the purchase and possession of marijuana.
FLORIAN CELLA/TAMEDIA
There is a radically different evolution in some US states such as Colorado and California. There, since legalization, regular consumption of cannabis has significantly increased. The products are now more concentrated, less expensive and offer a greater variety than before legislative change. “From the point of view of public health, no one has an interest in selling products to be licked containing THC,” says Frank Zobel.
In Germany, legalization has been applied so hastily that a great confusion still persists today. For Commissioner Sébastien Dyens, “it is essential that a future law is easy to implement for the police”. For a long time, the police had trouble differentiating the CBD Legal illicit cannabis. Similarly, the application of the current rule which makes it unproductable the possession of 10 grams or less is not easy to implement in practice.
It is likely that a possible law will not come into force before 2030. It is already certain that the UDC will launch a referendum. Frank Zobel is optimistic. A “window of opportunities” now opens to achieve both “intelligent and sustainable” regulations.
The cannabis market
From the police point of view, this would amount to preserving the status quo, a situation that worries. “The cannabis trade is crucial for us, not for the product in itself, but for individuals who operate in the shadows.”
According to the most recent statistics, 220,000 people in Switzerland indicate that they have consumed cannabis during the past month. In terms of volume, the cannabis market remains the largest drug market. It is partially controlled by well -structured international criminal networks. In French -speaking Switzerland, investigators are concerned about the growing influence of French gangs, responsible for a rise in violence in the neighboring country. In 2024, 110 people lost their lives in France in circumstances related to drug trafficking.
According to the policeman, “drug trafficking in Switzerland has diversified enormously. Cocaine and cannabis can today enter the country by the same channels and the same groups. ” Switzerland, which was an exporting country of marijuana in the early 2000s, has now become an importer, mainly from Moroccan hashish. The effects are brutal.
A black market always as violent
In February, Valais cantonal police dismantled a drug trafficking network and arrested 60 people, including 20 minors. The gang had sold 500 kilos of hashish and 2 kilos of cocaine in the whole of French -speaking Switzerland, for a market value estimated at more than 4 million francs. Within the group, they deplore physical violence, threats and blackmail. In recent years, Lausanne has also observed an increase in violence associated with illegal cannabis trade. “A prejudice exists according to which cannabis traffic is less violent than that of cocaine. This idea is no longer exact, at least for part of this illicit traffic. ”
The Aldrin city of Sierre, a symbol of precariousness undermined by drug trafficking.
CHANTAL DERVEY
In Yverdon and Grandson, in the canton of Vaud, two people lost their lives, one in 2018 and the other in 2020, following cannabis transactions which degenerated.
According to the two experts, regulating cannabis trade in Switzerland is not limited to determining where some consumers buy their grass. It is also a potential solution to the rise of violence linked to drug trafficking.
Translated from German by Emmanuelle Stevan
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