Still: prosecution from hemp seeds - the second wave

2015 will probably remain unmatched, but the hemp seed prosecution, after the low point of 2016, has now affected as many people again in the last three years as it did in 2015, namely over 4,500.

In our first graph, we listed the number of defendants who were reported for hemp seeds:

Both those charged with contraventions (light red bars) and those charged with misdemeanor (purple bars). So the majority of hemp seed cases are still prosecuted as misdemeanor!

Of all cannabismisdemeanor, hemp seed cases made up a notable proportion: 11% of these misdemeanor involved hemp seeds in 2019. Thereby it concerns here yes mostly the cultivation for own use, thus contraventions.

If the person concerned confesses to interrogation ordering hemp seeds, it is extremely important to state that the hemp seeds should have been used for personal consumption. Only this formulation can ensure that the criminal prosecution is downgraded from a misdemeanor to a contravention.

Even if the year 2015 is unmatched in terms of numbers (4'786 accused), in the last three years cumulatively 4'604 people have already been prosecuted for hemp seeds again.

We also noticed this in the legal consultations: There were many people seeking advice. During the lockdown, hardly any hearings were held, so the inquiries had two peaks this year: At the beginning of the year and then in the summer.

The second chart breaks down the hemp seeds defendants by age. Whereas in the other categories, younger people account for the majority of cases (see, for example, Shit happens 13, page 25) and the number of cases decreases with age, the opposite is true for hemp seeds: the number of cases among older people is higher than among younger people.

In 2019, hemp seed prosecution affected a total of 1,425 people. 480 affected people were 40 years or older. People under the age of 20, who usually make up the majority of those persecuted, were affected only 167 times. Thus, hemp seed prosecution criminalizes other groups than, for example, consumption in public.

Given that many of those seeking advice this year had ordered some hemp seeds without any problems in previous years, the question arises as to how many consignments are still getting through or how high the success rate of customs is.

One thing is certain: a great many shipments are intercepted. 1,000 to 2,000 cases per year is already impressive. So it is still not a good idea to order hemp seeds abroad: The probability of getting multiple problems as a result is very high!

More info about this special part of hemp tracking in Switzerland can be found here.