cannabisnews.com: Potent Swiss Pot Threatens Decriminalisation Law





Potent Swiss Pot Threatens Decriminalisation Law
Posted by CN Staff on December 03, 2002 at 17:04:24 PT
By Reuters UK
Source: Reuters 
Zurich - Swiss federal health officials still favour decriminalising cannabis consumption but political opposition is stiffening after a recent study showed Swiss marijuana is far more potent than previously assumed. A study conducted by a Swiss consumer watchdog showing Swiss cannabis had up to 28 percent of the euphoria-producing active ingredient tetra-hydro cannabinol (THC) has alarmed politicians and health officials and threatens to derail liberalisation. 
Richard Mueller, director of the Swiss Institute for Substance Abuse, told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper: "We have to revise our verdict. Smoking cannabis isn't as harmless as we thought." According to the study, THC levels measured in cannabis in Switzerland in 1997 were between only 1.5 and six percent. The health agency said it had known that THC levels had gone up in recent years. "We have always said it (smoking cannabis) is not harmless," a spokeswoman for the Federal Office for Public Health said on Monday, "but it is no more dangerous than other substances out there." The government aims to prevent abuse by informing youths about the potential dangers of drugs and alcohol before they start using them. "Especially with youths, I think it makes sense to tell them (cannabis) is treated the same way as alcohol and tobacco. Then we may have better access to them rather than if we tell them that it's against the law," she said. But political opposition is growing to a law now making its way through parliament that would decriminalise smoking pot. The upper house of parliament approved the bill last year, and the lower house will address it early in 2003. "In the last few months there has been a more restrictive way of looking at it," Rosemarie Dormann, a member of the lower house's social security and health committee, told SonntagsZeitung. "I will do everything to prevent this issue from coming through," MP Toni Bortoluzzi of the Swiss People's Party was quoted as saying on Sunday. Source: Reuters UKPublished: December 02, 2002Copyright: 2002 Reuters News ServiceWebsite: http://www.reuters.comContact: http://about.reuters.com/custhelp/Related Articles:Swiss Stand Firm Over Cannabis Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13573.shtmlSwiss Clear the Way for Cannabis Legalisation http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8940.shtmlSwiss Want Cannabis Laws Lightenedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8679.shtmlHeidi High - Swiss in a Fix Over Legal Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7577.shtml 
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Comment #6 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 04, 2002 at 05:54:17 PT
Potency is a smoke screen
I've never understood why more potent pot is used as a reason not to stop caging cannabis users. We all know that the more potent the product, the less is smoked, and that smoking less cannabis to achieve the desired effect is a good thing. Why do the politicians fear an increase in potency? At 1.5% THC, it killed zero people. At 28% THC, has it killed anybody? No. Besides, the laws against the plant are the main reason the more potent varieties are available in the first place. Since the legal repercussions are based on the weight of what's possessed, any sane person would rather have a couple grams of 28% THC pot than an ounce of 1.5% THC pot. It's easier to conceal, and the penalties are less. Do these same politicians feel concerned about 100-proof vodka versus beer and wine?And is there any way - or any point - to write a LTE to Reuters?
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Comment #5 posted by Sam Adams on December 04, 2002 at 04:49:10 PT
found it!
I dug through my email trash folder and it was still here, someone sent this to me a couple months back...http://www.overgrow.com/edge/showthread.php?s=e52477e5a0173c5eaa8812ba0171c7dc&threadid=190614&highlight=professional
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Comment #4 posted by CorvallisEric on December 03, 2002 at 19:58:54 PT
Swiss cannabis articles and photos
Switzerland's first Cannabis Cup 1999
http://www.cannabisculture.com/cgi/article.cgi?num=1456Swiss pot trade-show 2002
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2497.htmlArticle on 1998 DroLeg all-drug-legalization referendum which failed about 3-to-1. Photo links at end.
http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/1998/ds98.n74.html#sec1Trade show website - look around, there are many photos.
http://www.cannatrade.ch/By the way, I think (not sure) the Swiss People's Party is one of those right-wing anti-immigration parties that may evaporate when economic conditions improve. I think, hope, pray this is just the usual incompetent Reuters crap. I often think about going there (enough middle-class law-abiding dollars). It has mountains and palm trees, just like Oregon. Actually, I hate our stupid little palm trees, would rather have more snow ;-).
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Comment #3 posted by pokesmotter on December 03, 2002 at 18:32:29 PT:
sweetswiss
i was thinking about going to switzerland sometime. now i am sure that i will.on another note: SamAdams, where could i find a picture of some of those swiss greenhouses?
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Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on December 03, 2002 at 17:48:25 PT
genie is out of the bottle!
I've seen pictures on the net of HUGE Swiss greenhouses with THOUSANDS of plants! What are they going to do, bust these companies? I doubt it. If there's one country in the whole world that doesn't care about George Bush, it's Switzerland. Reuters are deluding themselves, the antis are getting their butt kicked over there....
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on December 03, 2002 at 17:14:52 PT
From 1.5% to 28%
That's 1 point 5%, as in, less than 2% and now up to over 1/4th of the plant is just THC.Truth and simple math gets chucked into the trash. 
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