No More Outdoor Pot Smoking In Amsterdam's Red Light District, Swiss Pilot Trials & More Global Weed Updates

Switzerland Green-Lights Two More Cannabis Pilot Trials

More Swiss cities are joining Basel, Zurich, and Lausanne in a push to legalize recreational cannabis via pilot trials, reported Business Of Cannabis.

Under the three-year study, titled Safer Cannabis, Research In Pharmacies randomized controlled Trial (SCRIPT) and kicking off in October – pharmacies in the cities of Bern, Biel and Lucerne will be allowed to sell cannabis.

The trial is authorized by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) and the Cantonal Commission of Ethics and the Ethics Commission of Northwestern and Central Switzerland and will be monitored by the Universities of Bern and Lucerne.

Meanwhile, another three-year pilot program for the regulated sale of cannabis in Geneva also got the green light from the FOPH. That's the fifth pilot trial to be approved in the European country. It would regulate cannabis sales in the canton of Geneva under the supervision of the Addictology Service of the Geneva University Hospitals and the University's sociology department.

No More Outdoor Pot Smoking In Amsterdam's Red Light District

New rules - unveiled by Amsterdam city council in February and under which it will be illegal to smoke marijuana on the street in the Red Light District - will take effect in the coming weeks, reported Bloomberg.

Starting May 25, smoking weed outdoors in the district will be banned. The violation of the new law, which will be enforced by police as well as local officials, will be punishable by a €100 (or $109) fine.

Isle Of Man Wants To Grow MMJ To Boost Economic Growth

The Isle of Man, a self-governing British Crown Dependency is planning to utilize medical cannabis to fuel its economic growth, reported The Guardian.

The island territory within the British Isles in the Irish Sea seeks to license ten firms within the next two and a half years and then export the cannabis from the island.

Tim Johnston, the Isle of Man's minister for enterprise, said he is "really looking to diversify our economy" by producing and exporting medical cannabis.

Photo: Courtesy of Christian Lue on Unsplash