Tag: Domestic Policy

Change in the law with regard to cannabis medicines

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After the Council of States unanimously approved a bill to amend the Narcotics Act (BetmG) with regard to cannabis medicines at the beginning of March, the bill passed through the National Council relatively uncontested. This amendment is intended to finally facilitate access to cannabis medicines.

Until now, physicians had to obtain a special permit from the FOPH in order to prescribe medical cannabis products to their patients. This intermediate bureaucratic step was disproportionately burdensome for both the medical practices and the FOPH, which had to process nearly 3000 “exception” requests in 2019 alone. Since many physicians understandably shy away from this effort, the current regulation has had a delaying or even preventing effect on access to useful cannabis medicines.

With the revision, this access is now to be greatly facilitated. Cannabis medicines may now be prescribed without an exemption permit, finally ensuring freedom of therapy. Medical cannabis products are now under the control of Swissmedic, as is normally the case for medical products.

For non-medical cannabis, nothing has changed with the passage of this bill. Besides the symbolic value of each urgently needed step towards more coherent legislation, the regulation nevertheless offers new opportunities for a company producing and distributing hemp products: the commercial export of medical cannabis products is now to be permitted, and in parallel the seed and planting material law is to be adapted to enable the cultivation of medical hemp on a larger scale in the first place.

As a company from the cannabis industry (and member of IG-Hanf), we are pleased that the legal and political situation is now also developing positively in Switzerland, as the EU has moved forward in recent months with sometimes unusually large steps.

Left:
– Blogpost IG Hemp
– Federal Office of Public Health

Federal Council approves cannabis pilot projects

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On March 31, 2021, it became clear that pilot cannabis dispensaries could be approved by the FOPH starting in mid-May. Following the National Council and the Council of States, the Federal Council also approved this amendment to the Narcotics Act, which is intended to provide new insights into health and consumption patterns in the context of legal offerings.

The thrust of this amendment is clearly going in the right direction. It is about time that Switzerland also gains experience with a legal sale of cannabis – but we should not forget to benefit from experience from abroad, for example Canada. We do not have to start all the attempts from the beginning again.

Participants in the pilot tests must be of legal age and must be proven to already be using cannabis. The amount purchased is paid by the consumer, whereby the price is higher with higher THC content and at least initially should still be significantly higher than the black market price. Resale of legally purchased goods is thus deliberately made unattractive. Furthermore, the monthly purchase amount is limited and a transfer of the legally acquired cannabis products is not allowed.

The cultivation of the products for the pilot projects is to be carried out according to the criteria of organic agriculture, thus ensuring the impeccable quality of the products. Even though the idea behind this concern is very much in line with ours, they will have to go over the books again on this point in the Federal Parliament. An indoor production facility does not even have the possibility to grow organic products according to today’s organic standards, as the use of artificial light is mandatory.

Furthermore, the personal data of the participants should also be well protected. In principle, no data are passed on to third parties and even anonymized data are only used for the evaluation of the projects by the participating research bodies and the FOPH. This is very important, as a possible stigmatization of the participants (for example, through the in the meantime proposed and later rejected obligation to report to schools and employers) would unnecessarily jeopardize the benefit and success of the trials. In our opinion, the above mentioned conditions of participation are sufficient to prevent possible negative effects of the project (damage to health or strengthening of the black market).

We are looking forward to further decisions from the federal government, which can bring forward working alternatives to the current prohibition policy, and will of course keep you informed.

Left:
– FAQ on pilot projects (Federal Office of Public Health FOPH)
– Watson article dated 31.03.2021
– Contribution of IG Hemp

Legal cultivation and simplified dispensing of cannabis medicinal products

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In the final vote of the spring session 2021, the National Council and the Council of States approved business 20.060 of an amendment to the Narcotics Act. This provides that the cultivation and medical prescription of medicinal hemp may be prescribed in the future without an exemption permit from the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). Now the referendum period is running. As a further step, the Federal Council must now amend the ordinance and determine when it will enter into force.

This step will not happen overnight, but the way to it is prepared and foreseeable. Now, discussions about health insurance coverage of cannabis medicines will follow in the coming years – because until they are covered, few people are likely to be able to afford the remedies.

Left:
– Narcotics Law. Amendment (cannabis medicinal products) (parlament.ch)
– Medical hemp (hanflegal.ch)