Ajkhdnka

Switzerland is a very laid back country on its drug policies. Marijuana is legal to grow and distibute but not legal to smoke. This has allowed for Switzerland to become a money laundering country. They also face problems not only in drug use but drug trafficing. "South American cocaine and southeast Asia herion come in and out of the country often." This leads to use of these drugs by thecitizens of switzerland. Switzerland needs to put a stop to drug trafficing and use in thier country or things could get out fo control.

The Swiss Government would like to make cannabis legal but that goes against the 1961 international drug control treaty which they had signed. The Swiss senate in December 2001 approved legalization of possession and production for personal use, as well as limitedtrade. Under the senate, importing and exporting marijuana will remain illegal, as well as advertising.

Switzerland's lenient drug policy is causing increased drug usage by all of their citizens. Currently, the Swiss Parliament is attempting to decimalize the production and consumption of cannabis for personal use. Their radical policy has also done things such as open up parks for heroin users toshoot up at. They quickly found out that the parks became overpopulated with over 20,000 users. This showed the government that they have a major drug problem but instead of switching to a zero tolerance policy they have been working to make drugs more legal. They feel that if they legalize some drugs they will be more likely to help those who are addicted to them because they will know who theyare. A lenient drug policy such as theirs raises drug use by all citizens; a switch to a zero tolerance policy would not only cut back the amount of drugs in the country but also the number of people who use them.
On October 2nd, the Swiss cabinet approved changes in that country's drug laws that would legalize the consumption of cannabis products. The cabinet declined to address whether growing andsales would be made legal. The Swiss executive branch will now write the revisions and submit them to parliament for approval.
support legalization of cannabis, at least in principle. In March, both houses of parliament approved resolutions calling for legalization of cannabis.
Most drugs are illegal in Switzerland, but attitudes toward non-addictive drugs are changing. The Federal Surgeon’soffice recently declared that they found ecstasy to be rather innocuous, somewhat of a scandal for older Swiss who cannot tell lysergic acid from methamphetamine. Marijuana and its derivatives are enjoying a boom nowadays in Switzerland, due to unclear laws that permit the culture of this robust plant for oil or medical purposes, and tolerate some shops that sell its hemp by-products. From time totime, police will raid growers and shops to remind people that Zurich has no intention of becoming Amsterdam—although marijuana may be soon legalized for Swiss residents. More disturbing is the heroin consumption that had found its center at the Spitzplatz just behind Zurich’s central station. For years an open market for drugs was tolerated there until a crackdown in 1992. Current issues includethe big competition between traditional dealers and the new Kosovo Albanian Mafia that now dominates 95% of the market in some areas. This has driven prices down and consequently reduced the traditional crimes (burglary and mugging) associated with the search for money to finance drug addict needs. Some cantonal governments have tried methadone and needle distribution programs to reduce AIDS and tobetter monitor addicts. A federal vote in 1999 approved this stance.
THE SWISS DRUG POLICY
A.  A Harm Reduction Policy 
The recent history of Switzerland’s drug policy began towards the end of the 1960s with the increase in psychoactive drug use.  As a result, the cantons developed a first drug policy, which was based on three approaches, namely: 
        the repression of drug use and...