Will Switzerland Legalize Cannabis?
Will Switzerland Legalize Cannabis?
European nations get ready to embrace a legal cannabis industry.
Welcome to Four PM — a daily newsletter that delivers cannabis industry news & interviews with cannabis industry leaders.
In Today’s Issue 💬
→ The Swiss Want Legal Cannabis
→ Nike Stands by Sha'Carri Richardson
→ Cannabis Conferences Set To Return
Will Switzerland Legalize Cannabis?
With 70% of respondents supporting the legalization of cannabis in Switzerland, will the Swiss go green?
With the legalization of cannabis sweeping its way across North America, it’s only a matter of time until European nations seek to plays catch up.
Although THC products are currently illegal in Europe for adult-use purposes & with limited exceptions for medical cannabis — there remains a thriving CBD market in Europe estimated to be worth some $500+ USD annually.
The Swiss Want More
In a recent survey published by the Federal Office of Public Health of the Swiss Confederation, two-thirds of the 3,166 people surveyed want the minimum age for consuming cannabis to be set at 18.
The survey was conducted by the Sotomo Institute from the end of January to the beginning of April with feedback from adults living in Switzerland.
About 70% of the respondents said it’s important to reform the cannabis law in Switzerland citing limiting the black market and improving consumer safety as important reasons for legalization.
The Opposition
There will always be opponents to cannabis and in this case, the concern is the effects cannabis has on the brains of young people — that said, Canada has shown us that the youth consumption of cannabis declines in a legal market.
A ban on advertising and high taxation of cannabis such as Canada and many U.S States have already adopted are also viewed as effective measures to protect public health in case of legalization
Nike Stands By Olympian Sha'Carri Richardson
Although Sha'Carri Richardson won’t be competing in the Olympics, Nike is standing by their star.
In 2019, Sha'Carri Richardson signed a contract with Nike as she continued to rise to fame as one of the fastest female athletes in the world.
Going into this year’s Olympics, Sha'Carri Richardson was viewed as being one of the top contenders to bring home a gold medal for Team U.S.A, however, after testing positive for THC — this will have to wait.
Still, Nike is standing by star athlete — “We appreciate Sha’Carri’s honesty and accountability and will continue to support her through this time.”
Change The Rules?
The Olympics has been struggling in recent years to get to grips with the issues related to athletes using performance-enhancing substances.
In the 2014 Winter Olympics games, Russia was accused of state-sponsored doping programs, and following a full investigation into these claims, the Olympics concluded “that a systematic and centralized cover-up” benefited more than 1,000 Russian athletes across 30 sports.
Following this news, many nations (including the U.S.A) called for stricter punishments to prevent this from happening in the future.
With the U.S having sought stricter punishments for those Russian athletes who had tested positive for banned substances, it puts them in an impossible position whereby even if they could have these outdated rules changed such that Sha'Carri Richardson could compete — they won’t.
“Whether they should remain the rules is a different issue,” Biden added, “but the rules are the rules.” — Joe Biden (U.S President)
Another Win For Nike
Credit where credit is due, Nike has a great track record for finding itself on the right side of history when it comes to supporting its athletes.
From supporting Colin Kaepernick who refused to stand for the national anthem — and in this case, we have no doubt that history will showcase that this was another wise decision from its leadership team.
Our Take
Although an athlete who has trained her entire life is unable to compete in the upcoming Olympic games — I suspect that this event will be the spark that ignites change such that this never happens again.
I will be very surprised if following the outpouring of support that Sha'Carri Richardson has received that athletes will be prevented from consuming cannabis for the next Olympic games in 2024.
Gaining Value From Cannabis Conferences
How can cannabis professionals make the most out of attending the long list of cannabis conferences?
The global pandemic caused many businesses to shut their doors, however, few businesses were more severely impacted than in-person events.
With people unable to travel outside of their country, and in many cases even outside of their locality, each & every conference was unable to fill its fixtures that were planned for 2020, however, with the number of cases of Covid declining — cannabis conferences are set to return later this year.
The Million Dollar Question
How do you get the most value from attending cannabis conferences?
Having worked in the cannabis industry since 2015, Taylor Jones shared his learnings from attending 40+ cannabis conferences across North America.
→ Focus on building relationships, as opposed to selling your products or services. Too many people focus on making each conversation about transactions, whereas I take the opposite approach.
→ Make sure you follow up on all of the new contacts that you’ve made in a timely manner. Too many people make a ton of great connections at conferences and fail to follow up.
→ Be bold. Don’t be afraid to walk up to random people and ask what brings them to the conference. You never know where one conversation will lead.
Have a great day, and I’ll talk to everyone tomorrow.
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