StoninStanley
09-29-2007, 09:02 PM
Here ya go CB, couldnt find a link but is in the Cannabible 2 by Jason King
the section reads as follows:
For the last ten years, Switzerland has been at the forefront of policy making and progressive thinking when it comes to cannabis. To the Swiss, it's all hemp-on one level, there is no differentiation made between cannabis used for medicine and cannabsi for pants. This is very important, as it deglamorizes the whole "marijuana phenonmenon." (In America, it's funny yet sad to watch dread-locked stoners trying to promote hemp and claining, "no, this isn't about getting high! We just want to wear durable clothes, dude!") Switzerland is a very misunderstood place, and its state of constant change makes it even less understood. I will now attempt to describe and clarify the situation.
In 1994, a woman named Shirin Patterson started Swihtco, the Swiss Hemp Trading Company. At this same time, a Swiss lawyer named Jean-Pierre Egger discovered that growing hemp with thc was never made illegal, because the Swiis never signed the same international drug treaties that almost every country on earth caved into and signed. Unfortunately, Paterson had no experience with hemp, so she made the logical choice of going to Amsterdam to seek help. She returned with thousands of seeds of some of amsterdam's top strains, only to then cross them with schwaggy local Swiss hemp strains. This way, when asked, she could tell people that is was local Swiss hemp. Thereby the now imfamous Swiss Mix (or swiss miss) was created. Unfortunately, no matter how good the amsterdam strains were, once low hyridized with swiss hemp, at best they would produce weak and bland herb. Patterson promoted and sold these seeds fervently, telling farmers that they were legal high quality swess strains, and unfortunately, most of the sswiss farmers bought the half-hemp. the ripple of this experience can still be felt today, and it set switerlands herb scene back several years. even high times magazine dissed swiss herb, claiming none of it got them high.
At this point, despite the crappy genetics and bad publicity, the swiss hemp scene exploded. shops popped up everywhere, selling everything from grow lights to "tea" and "aromatherapy pillows" (which was essntially a hemp cloth pillowcase stuffed full of buds available in various qualities and sizes.) this was the first tolerated form of sales and distribution of "hemp" within switzerland. Althought these pillows were occasionally used by legitimate asthma sufferers, most of them were torn open and rolled into what i call eurospleefs, huge joints containing some herb and a bunch of nasty chemically grown tobacco (switzerland has the highest tobacco use in europe.)
Many Swiss farmers were attracted to hemp, and live plants became a common sight at local farmers markets. By year 2000, thousands of hectares of swiss "hemp" were being grown, most of which was unfortunately still coming from the swiss mix seed stock. At the same time, marijuana experts from around the world were hearing of the opportunities in switzerland and showing up with new genetics and ideas. It was only a matter of time before the new genetics had their effect, and soon Switzerland started producing some quality herb.
The police in switzerland are very intelligent and professional. Prople very rarely go to jail for cannabis. A notable exception to this was bernard rappaz, a swiss man who was caught with an astonishing forty tons of cannabis as well as five hundred kilos of top quality hash. even more astonishing than that was his over eighty day hunger strike while in jail. He is now free.
with tolerance and forward thinking, the swiss government has allowed this cannabsi experiment to happen in the hopes of avoiding the casualities that come along with american style drug war tactics. As of this writing there are over 500 hemp stores in switzerland, most of which are selling ganja openly. usually it is sold in plastic sealed with a note saying "do not open or smoke this hemp. it is to be used for aromatherapy only"
only time will tell where this will all end up, but it seems as though complete legalization is right around the corner.
the section reads as follows:
For the last ten years, Switzerland has been at the forefront of policy making and progressive thinking when it comes to cannabis. To the Swiss, it's all hemp-on one level, there is no differentiation made between cannabis used for medicine and cannabsi for pants. This is very important, as it deglamorizes the whole "marijuana phenonmenon." (In America, it's funny yet sad to watch dread-locked stoners trying to promote hemp and claining, "no, this isn't about getting high! We just want to wear durable clothes, dude!") Switzerland is a very misunderstood place, and its state of constant change makes it even less understood. I will now attempt to describe and clarify the situation.
In 1994, a woman named Shirin Patterson started Swihtco, the Swiss Hemp Trading Company. At this same time, a Swiss lawyer named Jean-Pierre Egger discovered that growing hemp with thc was never made illegal, because the Swiis never signed the same international drug treaties that almost every country on earth caved into and signed. Unfortunately, Paterson had no experience with hemp, so she made the logical choice of going to Amsterdam to seek help. She returned with thousands of seeds of some of amsterdam's top strains, only to then cross them with schwaggy local Swiss hemp strains. This way, when asked, she could tell people that is was local Swiss hemp. Thereby the now imfamous Swiss Mix (or swiss miss) was created. Unfortunately, no matter how good the amsterdam strains were, once low hyridized with swiss hemp, at best they would produce weak and bland herb. Patterson promoted and sold these seeds fervently, telling farmers that they were legal high quality swess strains, and unfortunately, most of the sswiss farmers bought the half-hemp. the ripple of this experience can still be felt today, and it set switerlands herb scene back several years. even high times magazine dissed swiss herb, claiming none of it got them high.
At this point, despite the crappy genetics and bad publicity, the swiss hemp scene exploded. shops popped up everywhere, selling everything from grow lights to "tea" and "aromatherapy pillows" (which was essntially a hemp cloth pillowcase stuffed full of buds available in various qualities and sizes.) this was the first tolerated form of sales and distribution of "hemp" within switzerland. Althought these pillows were occasionally used by legitimate asthma sufferers, most of them were torn open and rolled into what i call eurospleefs, huge joints containing some herb and a bunch of nasty chemically grown tobacco (switzerland has the highest tobacco use in europe.)
Many Swiss farmers were attracted to hemp, and live plants became a common sight at local farmers markets. By year 2000, thousands of hectares of swiss "hemp" were being grown, most of which was unfortunately still coming from the swiss mix seed stock. At the same time, marijuana experts from around the world were hearing of the opportunities in switzerland and showing up with new genetics and ideas. It was only a matter of time before the new genetics had their effect, and soon Switzerland started producing some quality herb.
The police in switzerland are very intelligent and professional. Prople very rarely go to jail for cannabis. A notable exception to this was bernard rappaz, a swiss man who was caught with an astonishing forty tons of cannabis as well as five hundred kilos of top quality hash. even more astonishing than that was his over eighty day hunger strike while in jail. He is now free.
with tolerance and forward thinking, the swiss government has allowed this cannabsi experiment to happen in the hopes of avoiding the casualities that come along with american style drug war tactics. As of this writing there are over 500 hemp stores in switzerland, most of which are selling ganja openly. usually it is sold in plastic sealed with a note saying "do not open or smoke this hemp. it is to be used for aromatherapy only"
only time will tell where this will all end up, but it seems as though complete legalization is right around the corner.