10/07/2024
Sarah Sinclair
Six months on from the opening of Europe’s first legal cannabis stores in Switzerland, experts are reporting trends towards regulated sales and ‘lower-risk’ consumption methods, such as edibles and extracts.
The first data collected from the Grashaus Project in the canton of Basel-Landschaft, which launched at the end of 2023 and is due to last for five years, has been published by Sanity Group.
The pilot study is one of seven approved by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) to examine the effects of legal, regulated sales of cannabis for recreational use through licensed specialist shops in regions throughout the country.
The first of these shops opened in Allschwil in December, with trained specialists known as “budtenders” to educate participants on safer use pexelsand provide advice on the various cannabis products such as dried flowers, hashish, extracts, vape liquids and edibles.
Over 700 people are now reported to be enrolled in the study, which is designed to include up to 4,000 participants. Around 80% of those taking part so far identify as male and almost a quarter are aged between 23-27-years-old.
