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CANNABIS

Why Basel is about to become Switzerland’s marijuana capital

Starting this summer a whiff of cannabis will be in the air in the northwestern Swiss city of Basel. This is what you should know about it.

Published: 25 April 2022 15:54 CEST
Why Basel is about to become Switzerland's marijuana capital
This grass is not greener in Basel. Photo: MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP

Although Switzerland has a liberal policy regarding heroin distribution, use of marijuana is still illegal.

READ MORE: Cannabis: What are the rules in Switzerland?

However, this may soon change — a parliamentary commission ruled  in October 2021 that the drug should no longer be banned, and the first pilot trial focusing on recreational use of marijuana will begin this summer in Basel.

This joint project of the University of Basel, the University Psychiatric Clinics and the Department of Health of the Canton of Basel-City aims to test the sale of cannabis in pharmacies, under “strict conditions and …scientific support. The aim is to obtain useful lessons for defining future cannabis legislation”, health authorities said.

But if you are a Basel resident and think you will be able to just go to a pharmacy and ask for a hit, your high hopes will be dashed. 

That’s because the aforementioned “strict conditions” mean the cannabis will be heavily restricted. 

For instance, it can only include 400 pre-selected adult volunteers  “with previous experience of cannabis” and  whose state of health will have to be constantly monitored.

In addition, cannabis products must meet high quality requirements and come from Swiss organic crops.

READ MORE: Switzerland to legalise recreational and medical cannabis usage

This is what we know about the Basel study so far

According to a report in Swiss news outlet Blick, cannabis will be sourced from the “research campus” of the Pure Holding AG in Zeiningen, Aargau, where more than 8,000 different varieties of cannabis are currently growing.

The site “will become the exclusive supplier of the first cannabis distribution pilot project in Basel-City”, Blick said.

“We have spent the last two years preparing for this pilot project. Since then, we have been able to test which specific variety of THC is best suited to Basel,” said Lino Cereghetti, a biologist at Pure Holding.

In all, four kinds of flowers and two varieties of hashish will be available to the volunteers through 10 selected Basel pharmacies. Some of the products contain more THC —  the active substance primarily responsible for the feeling of ‘high’ — while others contain less.

Interestingly, prices will match the local black market, which “represents between 8 and 12 francs per gramme, depending on the product and the THC content”, Cereghetti said.

“With these trials, we want to provide insight into what a functioning [cannabis] regulation might look like”, he added.

And according to Lavinia Flückiger, the study’s co-director, “Our goal is to find out how a regulated distribution of cannabis affects people’s consumption behaviour and physical and mental health.”

If you are concerned that the grass is greener in Basel, don’t fret: other similar projects will take place in other Swiss cities at a later date.

What about medical marijuana?

Medicines containing cannabis must be licensed, according to a government site.

In Switzerland, only one product, Sativex, is currently approved for use, and  “doctors are allowed to prescribe it in certain cases of multiple sclerosis. It contains THC, but also a substance that inhibits its intoxicating effect”.

The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) may also grant exceptional approval for the prescription of cannabis-based medicinal products in response to an application from a doctor in a specific case.

However, an amendment to the Narcotic Drugs Act proposed by the Federal Council was widely approved in October, which paves the way for Swiss doctors to prescribe cannabis in the future to help their patients relieve the pain of cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other serious illnesses, as is currently the case in many other European nations.

READ MORE: Medical cannabis could soon be legal in Switzerland

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LEARN ABOUT SWITZERLAND

COMPARE: Maps reveal the areas of Swiss cities with best access to services

A recent landmark study has placed Paris and Milan as being closer to the goal of being a ‘15 minutes city’ than any other cities worldwide - but how do Swiss cities Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern and Lausanne compare?

Published: 18 September 2024 09:12 CEST
COMPARE: Maps reveal the areas of Swiss cities with best access to services

The study, published in the journal Nature Cities earlier this week, analysed data from over 10,000 cities globally. It assessed how far residents need to walk or cycle to reach essential services including shops, restaurants, education, exercise and healthcare.

The ’15-minute city’ concept, which gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, focuses on enhancing accessibility and sustainability by ensuring that basic services are within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

The online tool allows you to click on an area of the city to see ho accessible services are by bike or by foot.

READ MORE: Paris and Milan judged closest in the world to becoming ’15-minute cities’

The study also introduced an online tool that visualises the distances residents must travel, using a colour scale from dark red (long distances) to blue (short distances).

“A lot of people already live in a 15-minute city,” study co-author Hygor Piaget Monteiro Melo told AFP.

But it depends on where you look within a city, he said, because of the inequality in access to services between the centre and periphery. This in equality can be seen when examining Switzerland’s major cities.

As the maps below show, while some cities in Switzerland are making significant progress toward the 15-minute city goal, others still have considerable work to do.

BASEL (View on page)

Historic Basel has kept much of the shape and size that it has for centuries, with urban spread distributed almost consistently in each direction. This means that public transportation and community services have kept pace with the growth of the city. 

READ MORE: The nine maps you need to see to understand Switzerland

BERN (View on page)

While much of the ‘federal city’ demonstrates excellent mobility for its citizens, recent expansion into the south-west has not kept pace with the development of basic public services, meaning a long walk for those doing their shopping or visiting a doctor. 

GENEVA (View on page)

Geneva’s status as a diplomatic and scientifc capital is reflected in its excellent public transportation and distribution of shops and basic services. Only areas towards the small hamlet of Carouge in the southeast score over 18 minutes on the accessibility scale. 

LAUSANNE (View on page)

 

Lausanne’s growth in recent decades as part of the life sciences focused ‘Health Valley’ has meant that newly-developed urban area to the northeast and northwest are poorly served by public amenities, necessitating long commutes for those shopping or visiting healthcare. 

ZURICH (View on page)

Zurich is Switzerland’s most expensive city, so it’s no surprise that citizens of the city enjoy excellent access to public transport, amenities and shopping. That said, recent expansion to the east and west has led to bands of relative inaccessibility, particularly concentrated around Wettswil am Albis to the west and Fallanden to the east. 

Readers of The Local who are cyclists in Zurich have criticised the city’s lack of infrastructure for cycling such as bike lanes.

READ ALSO: ‘There are no cycle paths’ – How Zurich could improve safety for cyclists?

Earlier this year The Local also reported how Swiss cantons were criticised for dragging their heels in implementing new bike lanes.

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