The pilot projects in the approval phase

It has been discussed for more than 15 years. Now the first cannabis dispensing projects have been submitted to the FOPH for approval. We are very curious to see which projects will be approved and when sales can begin. Time is pressing in order to still make the start in the fall of 2022.

The city of Zurich has given us the provisional permit - so our Cannabis Social Club (CSC) will be one of ten in the city of Zurich, and probably one of the first legal clubs in Switzerland!

The next step is for the city's pilot project (including pharmacies, drug information center DIZ and social clubs) to be approved by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the ethics committee. The response will be interesting, especially in politics. The conservative hardliners in particular, who usually immediately fight any progress in drug policy, have been rather quiet at the national level. It is to be hoped that this will remain the case, because if the decisions of the FOPH were to be fought by legal means, valuable time would again be lost. As long as the city of Zurich project has not been approved, we will have to wait again. We expect to hear from the city and the FOPH in June.

Meanwhile, we are still preoccupied with the search for a suitable pub for consumption. Without expensive infrastructure (such as a fumoir), smoking is becoming increasingly difficult.

Smoking is coming under increasing pressure, but this does not stop smoking pot: more and more people are switching to vaporizing. At the meetings of Association Legalize it ! members can try out different high-quality vaporizers (for legal reasons only with CBD-weed, but that shows what is possible).

There are now considerations to focus consumption in the CSC on vaporizing, which makes it easier to rent a clubhouse, because it does not have to have expensive infrastructure.

However, this is not a long-term solution, because the upcoming version of the Tobacco Products Act may put vaporize on a par with smoking.

Again and again, we can only talk about “waiting”. Tough progress is part of the work with authorities and politics, but meanwhile we are not as inactive as it may sound at first!

On various occasions, we have already been able to contribute to the Zurich pilot project, for example by contributing our expertise as consumers. Be it in the area of data protection, in developing and testing the questionnaires for the participants or by participating in the project group for the procurement of the study cannabis. Many hours of voluntary work have already flowed into the project in these ways. Ultimately, our goal is to show society and politics a way to deal with cannabis without problems in the future.

The lively interest shows that our work is paying off. Even without having advertised at all, about 50 interested people have already signed up on our waiting list. In addition, the city is considering raising the upper limit of the number of members from 100 to a new maximum of 150 participants, which makes us very happy.

The additional revenue from more members will allow for exciting additional activities and reduce the financial pressure on our club. The more members the club has, the better infrastructure we can offer them.

We will set the membership fee in our social club at CHF 10 per month - according to our survey, this is the price most interested people are willing to pay. Besides the membership fees, our main source of income is the sale of study cannabis. Here we expect a margin of about 4 CHF per gram of cannabis and an average sale of 10 grams per month and member.

From these two sources, the simple formula can be derived: The gross margin is 50 CHF × number of members, so e.g. 2'500 CHF per month with the current 50 people on the waiting list or just 5'000 CHF with 100 members.

The biggest expense will be the rent for our clubhouse. In addition to the rent, there is also the salary for sales, which is paid by AssociationLegalize it ! from project-related donations.

After all, the studies are limited to certain communities. Our Social Club, for example, to the city of Zurich. But there will be more projects in other areas. If you are interested in participating, you can find all studies known to us on our map.