Association Legalize it Social Club: The Hanfstübli shortly before the start

Permits and bureaucracy, an exhausting search for real estate and preparations for the start of sales: we had to do a lot of preparatory work before we could start selling cannabis legally on August 22, 2023!

In the summer, we reported that we had conducted the first intake interviews. At that time, we were still planning to sell from our office at Quellenstrasse 25.

Three permits are required for legal sales, namely from the Administrative Police (VePo), the Environmental and Health Protection Office (UGZ) and the Building Permits Office (AfB).

While VePo and UGZ had no concerns regarding the sale of cannabis on Saturdays from an office, the AfB suddenly announced that a change of use procedure would be necessary for this, which would take at least 12 weeks. As such a procedure requires many agreements - with the main tenant, owner, architect and authorities - we initiated plan B: Sale from the base camp.

So we started the second submission, this time for a small studio in Basislager, a container settlement for start-ups and artists and creatives in Zurich's Altstetten district (Kreis 9). This is where the study participants pick up their cannabis, which they pre-ordered online.

Our activist Sonia has kindly sublet her private studio to us so that we can start selling. Thank you very much for this opportunity! Because this is the only way we can manage to be there on time for the start of sales. We want to use the urgently needed income from the sale to pay the high expected expenses - first and foremost, of course, the rent for a place of consumption.

The studio in the base camp is a property explicitly intended for commercial use, which is why we assumed that nothing should actually stand in the way here. However, in this case too, the Office for Building Permits surprisingly announced that a conversion procedure was necessary. Due to the long duration of the procedure, we would have missed the start of sales on August 22 in any case.

But through clever negotiations and escalation, we managed to convince the office after all! We now have a positive decision from the Office for Building Permits. In mid-July, we also received approval from the city council and registered our sales location with the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). The project management assumes that we will be able to sell cannabis in time for the Züri Can sales launch on August 22.

The small studio in the base camp is suitable as a sales location, but does not offer enough space for a cannabis social club where more than three or four people should be able to stay.

We are therefore still looking for a suitable location for a clubhouse within the city of Zurich, which is unfortunately proving to be almost impossible. We have applied for well over 150 properties in the last few months since receiving our BAG permit. We have been invited to view very few of them. In the case of around 80 properties, we were able to clarify in advance with the administration whether our use and any installation of a ventilation system requiring a building permit would be an option.

We were then invited to view eight properties in person. But in the end, all of our binding rental applications were always rejected by the owner. It seems to us that we encounter many prejudices here.

This process takes time and energy. We send a letter as quickly as possible for every suitable advertisement. For each invitation to view, we make an appointment, drive to the property and back again, fill out the application documents and make phone calls to answer any queries. That quickly adds up to several hours, every week, for months on end… time that we would much rather have invested in building a clubhouse.

This was the setting for the talks:

A crucial step for inclusion in the study is the intake interview. In these one-on-one interviews, which usually last 30 to 60 minutes, we enter the participants' data into the city's “Züri Can” IT system. Sonia and Sven have now conducted over 50 such interviews. So we have tested dozens of urine samples for THC in all shades from light yellow to brownish yellow, asked quite personal questions and also received some special CVs.

The average age of the participants was just over 40 (range 18 to over 70), which is pretty much in line with the Swiss average, although men clearly outnumbered women. The motivation for most of the participants was to finally obtain clean, black market-free goods and to contribute to future legalization. It is a diverse group of light to heavy users who have come together here. We are excited to see what comes of it!

We currently have 52 members in our database. The number of intake interviews conducted is higher, as a few members had to withdraw from the study due to medical concerns on the part of the study doctor.

Of the 52 members, 47 have already had their study card issued by the city, four participants still have to do this and a medical clarification is pending.

So we still have room for a few latecomers! If you are interested or know someone who is, you can register on our website.

Everything about our Social Club project

Study cannabis In the picture a secured field of Pure Production: cultivation of hemp plants for the production of weed and hash for the Zurich pilot project (June 2023, Aargau)