Switzerland

The Swiss grow scene changed considerably during the last two years. A legal loophole discovered in the mid 1990s showed the law did not distinguish between rope (hemp) and dope (marijuana). Both are cannabis. It was not considered a drug until it was rolled into a joint or stuffed into a pipe. Growers sold clones at retail outlets and planted fields of cannabis until last year when police raided grow stores and retail marijuana outlets. More than 100 growers were arrested and jailed in the Southern canton of Ticino alone!

International attention, internal politics, formation of the European Union and joining the United Nations all contributed to the crackdown. Although Switzerland is not a part of the EU, all the bordering countries are members. Over productive Swiss cannabis growers found a ready export market in their EU neighbors. Buyers were waiting with fistfuls of euros.

The crackdown is still echoing through the alpine valleys forcing growers now take a different tack. Grow shop business is off about 30 percent from two years ago and small grow shows are the norm. Before the crackdown small growers showed little interest because everybody could easily find all the hashish and marijuana they wanted at a fair price. Now growers are cultivating small patches in the backyard gardens and hanging a few lamps indoors. Large scale industrial growing in Switzerland is a fading memory.

More than 1000 tickets have been issued to marijuana smokers and in some cases driver licenses have been confiscated! Marijuana tourism is also a memory. All the shops that sold cannabis are now closed and clone sales have been stopped. Prices have also increased with the added risk. A kilo (2.2 pounds) that used to cost $2,700 now costs $5,000 or more.

Swiss laws allow authorities to hold a suspect for up to 12 months before charging them with a crime. Most of the prisoners in Swiss prisons are foreigners. The best known is Scott Blake, pioneering breeder for Greenhouse Seeds and later Mr. Nice Seeds. Accused of marijuana trafficking, poor Scott is sitting in a Swiss prison for close to a year without being charged while the court is researching the accusations. He will be formally charged or set Scott free on February 26, 2004. Protest to the Swiss government at www.canamo.net/ANTIPROHIBICION/fax_scott_english.htm.

The fourth annual CannaTrade show in Bern, Switzerland, March 19-21, 2004 will be bigger than ever, hosting more than a 150 exhibitors from 15 different countries and a bigger venue to hold more attendees. Last year crowds of more than 10,000 visitors were gridlocked in the isles. They have contracted me to speak about smaller indoor and outdoor growing. Conferences include medicine, cultivation, industrial hemp, the Swiss Cup, and a hemp fashion show. Learn more about the show and see the exhibitor list at www.cannatrade.ch.

CannaTrade has teamed up with the German company Sowjet GmbH Berlin to stage the Berlin Hemp Fair, September 10-12, 2004 at the Berlin Messe Convention Center. Now stable and growing, cannabis businesses suffered a hit when seeds were outlawed in Germany in 1999. German According to Dirk Rehahan, publisher of the Hanf Journal with a circulation of 100,000 copies, “the Berlin Hanf Fair has more than 100 exhibitor booths will see 10,000-20,000 people attend.” Learn more about the fair at www.interhanf.com.

The Ninth annual CannaBusiness trade fare in Castrop-Rauxel, Germany will be held September 24-26. Learn more about the fair at www.cannabusiness.com.

The Seventh annual High Life Hemp Fair was held January 30-1 February, 2004 in Utrecht, Holland. See: www.highlife.nl/beurs2004/index.html.

The Third annual French Festival du Chanvre will be held in Paris, November 2004. See www.festival-du-chanvre.com for complete information.

Basements full of clones at grow stores are a distant memory in Switzerland.

Greenhouses full of clones (below) and mother plants (above) are all closed down in Switzerland.

Greenhouses full of clones (below) and mother plants (above) are all closed down in Switzerland.

The grower that harvested this room every two weeks was arrested in Swiss action to stop large-scale growing.

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