Swiss capital city wants to test controlled sale of cocaine
The municipal council should express its interest in participating in such a pilot project to other cities
Friday, June 2, 2023
Switzerland's capital city, Bern, has signalled its intent to conduct a scientific pilot trial of controlled cocaine sales. With 43 votes to 18, the city parliament approved a motion from the Alternative Left to extend trials with cannabis to the future legal sale of cocaine. Despite recognising that cocaine is a harmful drug, Bern politicians believe that supervised sales could lead to better control of the narcotic, reported SRF. Bern's vote is intended to send a signal to the government and to other cities to consider the idea. This cocaine sale proposal was narrowly rejected by the Bern parliament in 2019, but a second version featuring more restrictions gathered enough additional support from the leftwing Social Democratic Party to force the motion through
