Adult-Use Cannabis Commerce Pilot Project Begins In Bern, Switzerland

Back in November 2023, government officials in Bern, Switzerland announced that long-awaited registration was open for adult cannabis consumers who wanted to participate in a regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot project.

Municipalities in Switzerland are permitted to apply to launch pilot projects under certain conditions in which adult consumers, cultivators, and retail outlets can legally conduct cannabis commerce activities for the purpose of research.

Such projects are already operating in Basel and Zurich with no reported issues. Now adult participants in Bern will also be allowed to participate in the ongoing public policy experiment. Per Swiss Info:

The study is being conducted by the Institute of Primary Health Care at the University of Bern. The cities of Biel/Bienne and Lucerne are also involved. A total of over 1,000 people from the three cities are expected to take part.

Over 900 cannabis users from the Bern region registered and 700 have been included in the study, according to the city of Bern. Of these, 80% are men.

Participants will reportedly be able to make purchases of ten different products as part of the program in Bern. In total, seven trials are underway in Switzerland to some degree, from accepting registrations to being fully operational.

Regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot projects are also in existence in the Netherlands. Similar to Switzerland, where an estimated 15,000 adults are participating in the trials out of a national population of nearly 9 million people, the cannabis commerce pilots in the Netherlands are fairly small in size and scope.

Germany is also expected to launch regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot projects, however, the size and scope of Germany’s projects are expected to be much larger comparatively.