Subj: Judge rules Swiss trade in aromatic hemp illegal 



Pubdate: Oct 16, 1998



Source: Reuters





Judge rules Swiss trade in aromatic hemp illegal 



ZURICH, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Switzerland's budding domestic marijuana 

trade took a direct hit on Friday when a judge ruled that selling 

cannabis in aroma sachets, long in legal limbo, was clearly against the 

law. 



The ruling in a test case, although likely to be appealed, could spell 

the end of a quirky three-year boom in marijuana selling in Switzerland 

based on an apparent loophole in the wording of the law. 



``It is quite clear that cannabis is a narcotic and falls under the 

narcotics law,'' Zurich district judge Thomas Meyer told a courtroom 

packed with friends of shop owner Bruno Hiltebrand and supporters of 

legalising marijuana. 



Consumption of drugs made from the hemp plant is illegal in Switzerland, 

as in most countries, but hemp enthusiasts in the mid-1990s discovered 

what they saw as a turn of phrase that bans marijuana only if it is sold 

specifically as a narcotic. 



The Swiss law against narcotics refers only to ``hemp when it is 

cultivated in order to produce a narcotic,'' not to the hemp plant as 

such, which is also grown for its fiber and other agricultural uses. 



Swiss hemp growers started selling the dried leaves and buds packed as 

aroma sachets and labelled ``not for consumption'' about three years 

ago, and hemp shops now number over 200, with 50 in the Zurich area 

alone. 



But judge Meyer ruled that other parts of the law and decisions by the 

Swiss supreme court made it clear that dried hemp was an illegal 

narcotic regardless of how it is labelled. 



Hiltebrand was sentenced to a suspended 14 month sentence and fined 

120,000 Swiss francs. 



``I am shocked by the sentence. I had counted on an acquittal,'' said 

39-year-old Hiltebrand after appearing in court. 



Hiltebrand's lawyer said they would probably appeal, a process that 

could go all the way to the supreme court in one or two years.