Limit value instead of zero tolerance
If you use legal CBD hemp, you could lose your driver’s license during a traffic stop. The Federal Office of Public Health wants to fix this contradiction—and introduce a THC limit similar to the one for alcohol. With alcohol, it’s simple: if you have more than 0.5 per mille in your blood and get stopped, you lose your license. It’s just as clear with marijuana right now: if the psychoactive substance THC is found in your blood, your license is gone—zero tolerance applies.
We need to clear up the uncertainty
Now the government is looking into whether there should also be a limit for marijuana, like there is for alcohol. The problem: even legal CBD hemp, which you can buy at any kiosk and doesn’t get you high, still contains a small amount of THC. If you smoke CBD or take it as medicine, you risk losing your license in a traffic stop. For the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), this is a contradictory situation.
“People who use legal cannabis have a hard time understanding why they’re being charged even though they weren’t high during a check,” explains Markus Jann, head of the political principles and enforcement section at the FOPH. “We need to clear up this uncertainty.” That’s why the office launched a study in mid-July. It’s supposed to find out at what point cannabis starts to have intoxicating effects. If the FOPH has its way, a limit for road traffic should be set.
How high should the limit be?
Right now, Switzerland only has a detection threshold for THC: if a driver’s blood is tested and it contains more than 1.5 micrograms of THC per liter, it’s considered proof that marijuana was used. But this value is so close to zero that you can go over it even if you don’t feel any effects, or if the effects have already worn off.
That’s why the FOPH is calling for an “effectiveness threshold”—by February 2020, the study in cooperation with the University of Basel should deliver first results on where this could be. The study also compares other countries: in the UK, for example, the limit is 2.0 micrograms of THC per liter of blood, and in the Netherlands it’s 3.0 micrograms.
Resistance is inevitable
But to set a new THC limit, the law would have to be changed. So politicians would have to get involved—and a new limit is highly controversial there. “I find it very questionable how the FOPH is pushing ahead with this,” says SVP National Councilor Andrea Geissbühler. She fears a gradual legalization of cannabis—a limit for road traffic would be another step in that direction.
She says zero tolerance is especially important in traffic. “CBD hemp acts like a sleeping or calming aid. You really shouldn’t be allowed to drive after using it.” The SVP National Councilor is baffled that the office is spending taxpayers’ money “on such pointless studies.”
A report by SRF, André Ruch Friday, 09.08.2019, 16:42, updated at 20:35
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