Switzerland Adult-Use Cannabis Pilot Program Delayed By ‘Quality Issues’

Switzerland has worked to launch a pilot adult-use cannabis program in various jurisdictions, including in Basel where the country’s first pilot program was set to launch today. A pilot program involves making cannabis commerce legal for adult-use purposes for some people in limited instances.

The goal of pilot programs, which are popping up in Europe, is to help countries gain insight into adult-use cannabis policies and regulations at a local level in order to be better suited to craft laws and regulations at the national level.

Denmark already has pilot programs in place and is working to expand pilot programs to more markets within its national borders. The Netherlands also has plans for launching a pilot program, however, that program has experienced a number of setbacks. Unfortunately, it appears that the pilot project in Basel, Switzerland is also experiencing delays. Per Swiss Info:

The ‘Weed Care’ experiment in the city of Basel was supposed to launch on September 15. But it has been put on hold because traces of pesticides were found in some of the supposedly organic plants.

Basel’s health department said on Friday that the delay could last several weeks or even months as products must now be analysed again by an independent body.

On one hand, it would obviously be nice to see the pilot program launching today. Yet, on the other hand, no one wants to consume tainted cannabis products, so a delay is warranted. It is worth noting that Switzerland has allowed the legal sales of low-THC cannabis products nationwide since 2017.