Swiss capital city wants to test controlled sale of cocaine

Bern city is looking to launch a pilot trial of controlled cocaine sales. Keystone / Martin Ruetschi

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 SRFExternal link. 

+ Read about the economic impact of cannabis legalisation in Switzerland

The motion met with opposition mainly from right leaning and centre parties, such as the Swiss People’s Party, Radical-Liberal Party, Evangelical Party. They argued that such a decision should be left to the federal government.

However, Franziska Teuscher, Bern’s Director of Education, Social Affairs and Sport, pointed out that: “The government only agreed to the cannabis pilot projects under pressure from the cities.”

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 on Thursday. 

Cannabis sale pilot projects are already underway in Basel, Zurich and Lusanne. Bern is expected to follow suit in autumn 2023 and Biel a few months later.