Swiss oasis for legal cannabis, without the high
Swiss media have cited estimates that sales of legal cannabis are currently about 100 million Swiss francs annually
Friday, April 14, 2017
Posters of bright green cannabis plants advertise its wares, which, like those sold openly in a growing number of shops across Switzerland, are completely legal. There is a catch however: They won't make you high. Since 2011, cannabis containing up to one percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the component that gets recreational users high - can be sold and consumed legally. That compares to a 0.2-percent limit in most European countries, which effectively blocks all sale of cannabis flowers since crossbreeding plants to consistently contain below that level of THC has so far proved impossible. Switzerland was eager to enable large-scale production of non-drug cannabis, especially to exploit another active component, cannabidiol (CBD), valued for its potential health benefits.
