Europe’s latest recreational cannabis trial program is set to begin in Basel, Switzerland, this summer.
The program will involve only about 400 people, who will be able to buy recreational cannabis products from certain pharmacies.
However, the participants will be “questioned regularly” throughout the study about their mental and physical health.
The cannabis will be produced by Swiss-based Pure Production.
The lower house of Switzerland’s Federal Assembly first approved a bill for the trial program two years ago.
Experts have called the Swiss program an important milestone while also symbolic of the sluggish pace at which recreational legalization is occurring in Europe.
Europe often turns to “trial programs” for medical and recreational cannabis instead of full legalization and regulation.
The programs are often mired in delays and bureaucracy.
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The latest example is the Dutch pilot program to allow the limited cultivation and distribution of recreational cannabis, which has been hit with another major delay.
The Dutch program is now expected to start in 2023.
