How do the cannabis pilot projects in Switzerland work?

In Switzerland, pilot projects with cannabis for non-medical purposes are possible. According to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH, BAG), they are scientific studies intended to generate knowledge about the effects of measures for dealing with cannabis. The FOPH authorises them under the Narcotics Act (Betäubungsmittelgesetz, BetmG) if the application is complete and the requirements are met. This article explains the legal basis, the requirements and the limits of the findings, according to the information of the FOPH (status of this check: 26 October 2026; the FOPH pages show no update date).

Legal basis

The FOPH cites Article 8a of the Narcotics Act (BetmG) and the Ordinance on Pilot Projects under the Narcotics Act (BetmPV) as the basis. Only pilot projects that deliver scientific knowledge in the areas named in the ordinance may be carried out. The FOPH rejects applications that are unlikely to produce new or additional knowledge. New applications can only be processed if it is convincingly shown that the question is not already covered by ongoing projects.

Requirements for the trials

• Local limitation to one or more municipalities.
• Sponsors can be public or private organisations.
• The duration must be scientifically justified and may not exceed five years. On a reasoned application, a single extension by at most two years is possible.
• The number of participants must be limited to what the science requires and may not exceed 5,000 people.

Further requirements are set out in Articles 5 to 20 of the BetmPV.

Which questions the studies are meant to answer

The trials are meant to provide knowledge on the effects on the physical and mental health of consumers, on consumption behaviour, on socio-economic aspects, on the drug market of an area, on youth protection, and on public order and safety. The FOPH provides a basic questionnaire for participants and asks all projects to use it. Uniform questions improve comparability.

Control and documentation

Licence holders must keep books on all their dealings in cannabis products. They report to the FOPH and the cantons at the end of the year on sales and stock quantities, and report exceptional events without delay. The FOPH finances a track-and-trace system to record the cannabis products grown and dispensed, which the projects can use free of charge. The FOPH checks whether the ordinance’s requirements are met and, where necessary, calls in the cantonal enforcement authorities. Periodic inspections are part of this.

Which projects are running

According to the FOPH’s overview page, several pilot projects with cannabis for non-medical purposes are currently running. The FOPH itself maintains the list of authorised projects. The projects have their own rules, which is why they cannot simply be compared. Exact access conditions for participants are described in the descriptions of the individual projects.

Limits of the findings

Pilot projects work with limited groups over a limited time. The participants are not representative of the whole population, and findings from individual municipalities cannot easily be transferred to the whole country. Results are therefore better read as indications than as final answers. Anyone reading a report should establish how many people took part, how long the trial ran and which comparison group was used. If one of these is missing, the statement remains vague. Dropouts also belong in the evaluation, because they change the group.

What distinguishes Switzerland from Germany

The German KCanG relies on home cultivation (§ 9 KCanG) and licensed cannabis associations (§ 11 KCanG). Sales in shops are not provided for. The Swiss trials, by contrast, are time-limited scientific studies authorised by the FOPH. Both routes are meant to produce knowledge and control, but they are structured differently in law. The article How is the KCanG structured? explains how the KCanG is built.

Terms around the trial

• BetmG: the Swiss Narcotics Act (Betäubungsmittelgesetz).
• BetmPV: the Ordinance on Pilot Projects under the Narcotics Act.
• Track and trace: a system that records where grown and dispensed quantities have ended up.
• Basic questionnaire: the uniform questions of the FOPH for participants.

Prevention and youth protection

Youth protection is one of the research questions of the trials. Regardless of the model, the following applies: the young brain is in an important stage of development, and consumption can affect it. According to the BIÖG, roughly one in eight people who use cannabis becomes dependent (cannabispraevention.de). This applies regardless of whether cannabis is obtained within a trial or elsewhere.

Next steps

Check the status of the trials on the FOPH pages and read the original reports before you pass on any results. An overview of other models is given in the article Which countries have legalised cannabis?.