Switzerland's SCRIPT pilot shows that selling cannabis through pharmacies moves consumers away from the illicit market and toward potentially lower-risk products such as vapes. After six months, the group with legal access used slightly less smoked cannabis than the control group, and there was no measurable rise in harm. Almost no police-relevant incidents occurred across nine pharmacies in three cities.
This matters because SCRIPT tests the questions every legalising country faces, under real conditions and before any law is passed. Those questions include taxes, potency-based pricing, product mix and contamination of street supply. We've been following Europe's cannabis experiments closely, and this one delivers some of the sharpest data yet.
Europe's Evidence Base on Cannabis Access Keeps Growing
Across Europe's most progressive cannabis markets, government-led studies keep pointing in the same direction. Greater access to cannabis does not appear to cause greater harm to public health. That conclusion no longer rests on activism or anecdote. It rests on official, state-commissioned research.
In Germany, the government-mandated Ekocan reports have been assessing the country's cannabis reform. Ekocan is the official evaluation of the effects of Germany's cannabis law. So far, its findings show none of the public-health harms critics predicted. In the Netherlands, officials recently published preliminary findings from the country's ongoing adult-use cannabis experiment. That experiment tests regulated, legal supply chains for coffeeshops in selected municipalities.
Switzerland takes a different, more granular approach. Instead of one national framework, it runs eight active regional pilot projects. They include Zurich's Züri Can and a newer pilot that tests home delivery for the first time. Each pilot studies a specific sales model, city or population. The result is precisely targeted data that national rollouts struggle to produce.
Among these Swiss pilots, SCRIPT is the one testing pharmacies as the point of sale. The name stands for Safer Cannabis: Research In Pharmacies randomised controlled Trial. Its interim results give lawmakers a preview of how a regulated Swiss market might actually behave. Other countries watching the European experiments get the same preview.
What Is the SCRIPT Cannabis Trial?
SCRIPT is a Swiss study examining the "health and social impacts of regulated cannabis sales in pharmacies" in Bern, Biel and Lucerne. It is run by researchers from the University of Bern and the University of Lucerne together with the three cities. It is a randomised controlled trial, meaning participants are assigned by chance to different groups so that outcomes can be compared fairly.
The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) approved it in May 2023 as one of Switzerland's first five pilots. The FOPH is the Swiss federal authority responsible for health policy. The trial began in earnest in May 2024. It was originally planned for three years, but in December 2025 the FOPH granted a two-year extension. Pharmacy sales now run until October 31, 2028, and the study concludes at the end of 2029.
A total of 1,177 existing cannabis users were recruited:
| City | Participants | Pharmacies |
|---|---|---|
| Bern | 777 | 5 |
| Lucerne | 261 | 3 |
| Biel | 139 | 1 |
| Total | 1,177 | 9 |
Participants were split randomly into an immediate-access group of 588 and a waitlisted control group of 589. A waitlisted control group is a set of participants who receive the intervention later, here pharmacy access after six months, so that researchers have a comparison period. The interim results were presented in Bern on Monday, September 7, 2026. The product catalogue will expand to include more flower varieties, a cannabis oil and eventually edibles. These edibles will be manufactured to the specification in the CanPG draft, the proposed Swiss federal law on regulating cannabis products.
Does Pharmacy Access Shrink the Illicit Market?
The foremost research aim of the SCRIPT trial in Bern, Biel and Lucerne is to measure how legal pharmacy access affects the illicit market. The illicit market is unregulated cannabis supply outside any legal framework, sometimes called the black market. Even at the six-month analysis, the data is meaningful.
In the seven days before their six-month visit, 75% of the access group had smoked cannabis. In the control group, which could only buy illicit product, the figure was 83%. More than half of the access group (51%) had sourced cannabis from a study pharmacy that week. However, 40% had still bought from the illicit market. Many participants used both sources, often in the same week.
That overlap is no accident. Researchers deliberately set pharmacy prices higher than street prices. The goal was to see how a price gap shapes consumer behaviour. Regulators need to know whether a legal channel can compete while still carrying a tax. The honest answer so far is: partly. Legal supply wins on some products and loses on others.
For us as growers, this is a familiar lesson. Price alone never tells the whole story. Trust, product quality and knowing exactly what's in the bag all drive decisions. The SCRIPT data suggests consumers will pay a premium for certainty, but only up to a point. Where the illicit offer is cheaper and stronger, a real share of buyers will keep one foot in the old market.
Legal Access Pushes Consumers Toward Vapes and Oral Products
One of the SCRIPT pilot's clearest findings concerns how people consume, not just where they buy. Participants with regulated pharmacy access gravitated toward alternatives to smoking flower. Dr Reto Auer, the study's director and head of the Substance Use Unit at the Bern Institute of Primary Health Care, said the study "produced indications that regulated supply through pharmacies can encourage a switch to potentially lower-risk forms of consumption."
Here is the seven-day sourcing split within the access group at six months:
| Product type | Used in past 7 days | Sourced from pharmacy | Sourced from illicit market |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vape devices | 27% | 24% | 5% |
| Oral products | — | 6% | 2% |
| Raw flower | — | Less preferred | Preferred (cheaper, stronger) |
The pattern is striking. Pharmacies dominated vaping, with a 24% to 5% split. The trend was smaller but still clear for oral products. Raw flower was the only category where the illicit market remained the preferred source, because of its lower price and higher potency.
Vaporising heats cannabis without burning it. That avoids the combustion by-products associated with smoking. If a regulated channel reliably shifts consumers from joints to vapes, the public-health benefit could extend far beyond the question of legal versus illegal supply.
SCRIPT's Tax and Pricing Model
SCRIPT carries the heaviest simulated tax of any Swiss cannabis pilot. A simulated tax is a levy built into trial prices to mimic a future legal tax, so its effects can be observed in advance. It is set at CHF 3 to CHF 4 per gram on flower and resin. That works out to roughly 30% of retail price on 8% THC flower and close to 50% on 20% THC resin. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main intoxicating compound in cannabis.
These rates sit above Québec's combined effective rate of around 25%. They are also above the 20% to 40% range expected for eventual Swiss regulation. The purpose is practical: regulators can observe a demanding tax level under real conditions. Otherwise, they could only measure it after a law had already passed.
Non-linear pricing by potency
Prices do not rise in step with THC content. Flower at 8% THC costs CHF 10 per gram, while 18% THC flower costs CHF 13. Weaker flower is therefore cheaper per gram. Stronger flower, however, is cheaper per milligram of THC: about CHF 0.07 per milligram versus roughly CHF 0.13.
Untaxed products
E-liquids carry no tax, on harm-reduction grounds. E-liquids are cannabis extracts formulated for vaporiser devices. Tinctures are also untaxed, because of their production costs and poor oral bioavailability. Tinctures are liquid cannabis extracts taken by mouth. Dr Auer noted that "such results confirm international experience that fiscal measures serve as an effective youth-protection measure."
Where the Tax Money Goes: Counselling and Participant Support
The simulated tax in the Swiss SCRIPT pilot doesn't disappear into a general budget. It funds the trial's support structure, and that design choice sets SCRIPT apart from every other Swiss pilot.
Every participant receives paid counselling from pharmacy staff. A consultation takes place when a participant first collects product. Later in the study, staff can bill for further smoking-cessation sessions at CHF 30 each. This builds harm reduction directly into the point of sale. The person handing over the product is also trained to talk about how it is used.
Tax revenue covers three things:
- Counselling sessions at pharmacies, including the initial consultation and optional cessation support
- Six-monthly study visits, during which researchers collect data on consumption, sourcing and health
- Vouchers for participants, which makes SCRIPT the only Swiss pilot that pays the people taking part
The model offers a template for future legislation. Cannabis taxes are often debated purely as revenue. SCRIPT instead treats them as a closed loop, with money raised from consumers going back into consumer health. For policymakers, that is a politically attractive framing. For consumers, it means the premium they pay over street prices buys something tangible: advice, support and monitoring.
It also changes the pharmacy relationship. Staff are no longer simply retailers. They act as the first line of a public-health service. Several pharmacists told researchers that their own prejudices about cannabis consumers dissolved through regular contact. One said cannabis consumers were now "among our favourite customers."
What Sold in Swiss Pharmacies
Two years of sales across the SCRIPT pilot's nine pharmacies in Bern, Biel and Lucerne offer a rare look at real consumer demand in a regulated setting:
| Product | Units sold | Unit size | Approx. total volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flower | 19,515 | 5 g | 97.6 kg |
| Resin | 3,433 | 5 g | 17.2 kg |
| E-liquid | 6,363 | 2 ml | 12.7 l |
| Tinctures | 814 | 10 ml | 8.1 l |
Blue Mint Cookies at 18% THC led on volume with 49.2 kg, roughly half of all flower sold. It finished ahead of Grapefruit Haze at 15% THC. Given the non-linear pricing, which makes stronger flower cheaper per milligram of THC, the top seller's potency is hardly surprising. Consumers chasing value per milligram will lean toward the stronger option.
Cheap disposables beat premium hardware
| Device | Price | Units sold |
|---|---|---|
| Mighty vaporiser | CHF 399 | 3 |
| Arizer Air Max | CHF 259 | 5 |
| Wolkenkraft Vita | CHF 99 | 29 |
| Honey Stick e-joint | CHF 19 | 1,014 |
The message is loud and clear. Affordable disposable products did far more to drive the switch to vaping than expensive reusable hardware. If regulators want fewer people smoking, the entry price matters enormously.
Lab Tests Reveal What the Illicit Market Really Sells
SCRIPT participants submitted 127 illicit samples for laboratory analysis at the University of Bern's Institute of Forensic Medicine. There were 104 flower samples, 21 resin samples and two liquids. The results make the strongest case in the entire study for regulated supply.
Nine samples contained synthetic cannabinoids, and seven of those were resin. Synthetic cannabinoids are lab-made chemicals that mimic THC and are often far more potent and dangerous than natural cannabis. Consumers had no way of detecting them.
Potency was just as unpredictable:
- Flower averaged 15% THC
- Resin averaged 22% THC, with samples ranging up to 46%
- One e-liquid tested at 79% THC
In 69 cases, participants had estimated potency before testing. Only one estimate was correct. Twenty-seven were too low and 41 too high, with errors of up to 24 percentage points in both directions. Put simply, street buyers are guessing, and they are usually wrong.
Sourcing was overwhelmingly social. Participants bought first from friends and acquaintances, then from a personally known seller, then from home cultivation. One participant summed up the value of regulation: "You never know what cutting agents are in it or what other active substances. Not having that fear is worth an enormous amount." Transparency isn't a luxury. It's the whole point.
Safety Signals, Limitations and Why It Was Published Early
A core question for any cannabis pilot is whether legal access increases harm. At six months, SCRIPT shows no difference between groups. Forty-five participants, 4% of the cohort, reported 51 serious adverse events. A serious adverse event is a significant health incident, such as hospitalisation, recorded during a clinical study regardless of its cause.
| Measure | Access group | Control group |
|---|---|---|
| Serious adverse events | 26 events, 24 people | 25 events, 21 people |
| Psychiatric events | 6 events, 6 people | 8 events, 5 people |
| Smoked cannabis in past 7 days | 75% | 83% |
The sample sizes are small and the differences minimal, so reliable conclusions cannot yet be drawn. Still, there is no signal that pharmacy access made anyone worse off. On public order, one participant was disciplined for reselling study product. No other police-relevant incident was recorded across the nine pharmacies in Bern, Biel and Lucerne.
The researchers acknowledge that the results have not yet been peer reviewed. They published anyway, explaining that SCRIPT sits "at the interface of science and politics, where the facts are uncertain, the values contested and the decisions urgent." With Swiss federal legislation under discussion, waiting years for polished papers would mean lawmakers deciding without the best available evidence.
For us at Shottas®Seeds, the takeaway is simple. Where cannabis is regulated, consumers choose lower-risk products, avoid contaminated supply and cause no disorder. Authenticity, transparency and quality aren't just brand values. According to the data, they are public-health tools.
Frequently asked questions
Who can take part in the SCRIPT cannabis trial?
SCRIPT recruited existing adult cannabis users living in Bern, Biel and Lucerne. A total of 1,177 people enrolled and were randomly assigned to immediate pharmacy access or a waitlisted control group that gained access six months later. The trial does not recruit non-users, because its aim is to study people who already consume cannabis.
How long will the SCRIPT pilot run?
The pilot started pharmacy sales in May 2024 as a three-year study. In December 2025, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health approved a two-year extension. Pharmacy sales will now continue until October 31, 2028, and the research project is scheduled to conclude officially at the end of 2029.
Why are pharmacy cannabis prices higher than street prices in SCRIPT?
Researchers deliberately priced pharmacy cannabis above the illicit market and added a simulated tax of CHF 3 to 4 per gram. This lets regulators test a demanding tax level under real conditions. They can observe how price affects consumer choices before any Swiss cannabis law actually sets rates.
What dangers did lab tests find in illicit Swiss cannabis?
Of 127 illicit samples analysed by the University of Bern, nine contained synthetic cannabinoids, mostly in resin. Potency varied wildly, with resin reaching 46% THC and one e-liquid testing at 79%. Consumers almost never guessed strength correctly, underlining the risks of buying unregulated, untested product.
Did legal pharmacy access increase health problems?
No meaningful difference has appeared so far. After six months, serious adverse events were almost identical between groups: 26 events in the access group and 25 in the control group. Psychiatric events were also similar. Researchers stress that the numbers are small, so firm conclusions require the full study period.
Why don't e-liquids carry tax in the SCRIPT pilot?
E-liquids are exempt on harm-reduction grounds, because vaporising avoids the combustion associated with smoking. Keeping them cheaper encourages consumers to switch from joints to potentially lower-risk products. Tinctures are also untaxed, but for a different reason: their high production costs combined with poor oral bioavailability.
Europe