2. Cannabis in Switzerland: The current situation

2.4 Historical and sociocultural aspects

Hemp is an old crop that has been used by man for centuries in many and varied ways. It was native to Switzerland for hundreds of years, and in fact was indispensable in many areas of agriculture and for commercial and industrial products. This background has largely been forgotten since hemp developed a stigma as a "narcotic substance" in the 1920s. During the 1960s and 70s, this very versatile traditional fibrous plant was increasingly perceived as nothing more than a substance capable of inducing hallucinations and other abnormal states of mind – worshipped by a minority and rejected categorically by the majority. It was only recently that the image of hemp has been rehabilitated through awareness that it is a renewable raw material with many ecological advantages. However, the contradiction between two apparently irreconcilable components persists: hemp as a valuable and ecologically friendly crop on the one hand, and cannabis as an exotic drug on the other. Sources date cannabis as one of the oldest and most widely cultivated crops in the world (Katalyse Institut 1995; Herer 1993). It had an enormous range of uses (Katalyse Institut 1995; Scheerer 1989). In China, for example, it was used 6,000 years ago to make food, clothing, fishing nets, oil and medicines (Scheerer 1989; Emboden 1982). Cannabis spread from central Asia and subsequently featured in all the cultures in the Middle East, Asia Minor, India, China, Japan, Europe and Africa. Hemp was introduced to the American continent by Spanish seafarers in 1545; the English later brought their European knowledge to the colonies (Katalyse Institut 1995). The hemp plant was used widely to provide fiber and oil and was processed into food and medicines; its consciuosness- altering properties were used both in religious rituals and on an everyday basis (Herer 1993). At a slightly later date hemp was used to make paper: China started in the 1st century BC, Europe around 1200. At the end of the 19th century, 75 percent of all the paper produced in the world was made from hemp (Bröckers 1988). This varied and widespread use – hemp growing was made compulsory in some parts of America in the 17th and 18th centuries – is contrasted starkly with the decline of cannabis from the 19th century onward (Katalyse- Institut 1995). Hemp cultivation was still pursued in the early part of the industrial era in continental Europe, but competition from Russia was already having a serious impact, and cotton imports were increasingly destroying the market for hemp fiber. In western Europe more and more arable land was given over to cereals and animal fodder (Bischof 1994). In Switzerland, hemp was grown for domestic use only from the mid- 19th century, and by the start of the 20th century it had practically disappeared from the landscape. Many authors in the 19th and 20th centuries lamented the decline of hemp cultivation, blaming it on the population's lack of diligence and inadequate processing methods. Social and agrarian reformers praised hemp as a possible source of income for the impoverished classes. It is particularly clear from the writings of the time that hemp cultivation was seen as a means of underpinning a traditional way of life and values, and was thus thought to have a stabilizing function. In Germany, too, hemp cultivation started to decline before the First World War, although interest surged again during both World Wars since Germany was largely cut off from the world fiber market and was dependent on hemp to meet its needs (Katalyse Institut 1995). An interesting feature in this connection is the "jolly hemp book" issued by the National Socialists, which portrayed hemp as a reliable native raw material indispensable in industry and the home. But America also stylized hemp as the savior of the nation, not least in a hemp propaganda film entitled "Hemp for Victory" (Bröckers 1988). In Switzerland, a "cultivation campaign" was announced in 1940 under the auspices of Federal Councilor Wahlen; the objective was also to promote the production of hemp, although the area under cultivation was in fact small (Tobler 1950). After the Second World War hemp fibers were replaced by synthetic fibers, hemp oil by mineral oil, lamplight by electric light. Synthetic drugs proved to be more effective than cannabis, the petrochemical industry obviated the need for hemp as a pressing material, and wood fiber replaced hemp in paper manufacture. The significance of this once indispensable source of fiber declined in the face of the difficulties associated with mechanizing the harvesting and processing of the plant (Tobler 1950). It was by no means chance that the materials competing against hemp were easy to integrate into the industrialization process. One of the aims of competitors was most certainly to stigmatize hemp. The economic decline of hemp was accompanied by an increase in prohibition worldwide. After the interwar period, hashish, marijuana and people who used these substances were increasingly criminalized. In the 1930s the American timber industry sponsored a financially motivated campaign against marijuana, culminating in 1937 in the passing of the Marijuana Tax Act in the USA (Scheerer 1989). Before this, in 1925, the Second Opium Conference had placed hashish on a controlled list of narcotic substances. In 1929 it became illegal under German law to trade in or use "Indian hemp and more specifically its resin" (Katalyse Institut 1995); Switzerland followed in 1951, incorporating a ban into its amendment of the Swiss Narcotics Act (Länzlinger 1997). The point at which cannabis also started to be used in central Europe as a hallucinogen, and the extent to which it has been used, is still unclear (Scheerer 1989). Scheerer claims that the overriding purpose of hemp cultivation in this geographical region has always been to provide fibers and oil (Scheerer 1989). This view is upheld by Swiss sources from the 19th and 20th centuries. Descriptions of Swiss agriculture portray hemp as a source of fibrous raw material which was processed mainly into textiles. Some sources mention that the plant emitted an intoxicating odor, although this was in no case perceived as dangerous. It was known that a different type of hemp, Cannabis indica, with narcotic properties existed in the "Orient", but the native species, Cannabis sativa, was not associated with such effects. The use of the plant as a hallucinogenic, mind- altering substance was considered as behavior typical of "Orientals". This perception resulted from a general trend of the era: since the 18th century, the Orient had been perceived as the incarnation of everything that was "different" from the west, as an alternative to the sober rationality of the "Occident" that stimulated the western imagination. In the early 20th century the Pharmacological Institute in Berne carried out a series of experiments which showed that the effects of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica were certainly comparable, but this finding did not give rise to any concern. The native plant seemed to be safe from "abuse". Hemp was also used in Europe and America for medicinal purposes; this aspect will be considered in Chapter 2.5. If we consider the typology of cannabis users at various points in time, we find that cannabis has been, and continues to be, used by very different groups for different purposes. For a long time, hemp was associated with the poor; those who couldn't afford tobacco smoked hemp (Kessler 1984). Solidarity within a subculture and working and smoking together were elements important to those who used hemp (Tanner 1996); hemp was an expression of a traditional way of life which may also have been viewed as a form of resistance against the imperatives of economic modernization and commercialization. In the 1840s, the Club des Hachichins in Paris embodied the use of hemp, associated with an alternative, oriental culture, as a positive contrast to the regular, bourgeois way of life. This gave hemp a new image; it was no longer seen as a way of upholding tradition but as rejection of normality. The narcotic substance decried by regular citizens was thought to transport users to a new level of consciousness and perception and to stimulate artistic productivity (Tanner 1996). In this way the Bohemians' defense of hemp involuntarily provided the arguments that were used to make the "drug" taboo, although this was by no means their intention (Rudgley 1993). The users of the substance at the time formed a relatively homogeneous group, although subsequently the group came to be larger, heterogeneous and difficult to define (Bröckers 1988). The criminalization of cannabis in Switzerland from 1951 did not have the desired effect. With hindsight, it is much more likely to have contributed to making the plant and its use into a symbol of peace and tolerance. The stigmatization of cannabis served to highlight its existence and to popularize it in subcultural settings (v. Wolffersdorff- Ehlert 1989). The use of cannabis was initially centered on the so- called beat generation and was not particularly widespread (v. Wolffersdorff- Ehlert 1989); from about 1964 it became more common in industrial countries, reaching its first high point in the legendary "summer of love" in 1967. In Switzerland there has been a marked increase in the number of offenses involving narcotic substances since 1970, although this was probably due more to the low level of tolerance by the police and the courts than to a sudden surge in consumption. The media reported a "wave of drugs" said to be submerging the country. A "war" or "crusade" was mounted against the dangerous substances in an attempt to kill demand, but the number of users increased unabated. Harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine started to make more of an appearance, and from about 1974 the focus shifted away from hashish users to people dependent on hard drugs and "drug fatalities". Cannabis use expanded into a mass phenomenon in the shadow of this new focus. However, this more widespread consumption also gave rise to a tendency for people to individualize their use of cannabis in order to forget their personal frustrations, leaving the collective experiment behind them (v. Wolffersdorff- Ehlert 1989). The consumption of hemp, although outlawed in 1975, has normalized and become a commercial proposition, resulting in a growing disparity between the legal norm and judicial practice. Twenty years ago, using cannabis products was exotic and something of an adventure for the adolescents of the day, but in recent years it has become almost normal for many of them. Today young people of 14 can talk quite openly among themselves or with trusted adults about their drug use, and those who do not use cannabis, for example, are tolerant of occasional smokers. It is interesting to note that the use of various drugs is determined to a very large extent by the habits of the group that is currently "in" (which may be a school or an entire suburb, or people involved in a certain type of sport). Trends of this type are open to very little intervention on the part of parents or guardians. Years ago there was still a clear distinction between adolescents who drank alcohol and those who smoked cannabis, with the two groups generally having little to do with each other. This distinction has blurred increasingly. The single- substance "cultures" still exist of course, but many adolescents consume both alcohol and cannabis depending on the situation and availability. This intermingling of two formerly separate "cultures" is increasingly rendering obsolete the question of the extent to which cannabis consumption is open to social integration. In the current situation, cannabis has become an integral part of the social reality of a not inconsiderable part of the population. Cannabis use has changed from something originally intended to achieve a "high" and a particular emotional state into a recreational activity pursued purely for the pleasure of it. Against this background, it is difficult for people who consume a small amount of cannabis for relaxation purposes – in the same way that social drinkers consume alcohol – to understand why cannabis is referred to as a narcotic drug. As with any psychoactive substance, of course, there are adolescents and adults who seek refuge from the reality of a situation which, for them, is intolerable. It is this group which deserves special attention. On the other hand, there is a current resurgence of interest in hemp as a renewable raw material, and many traditional uses for the plant have been rediscovered. Cannabis is once again being used in medicine, with some success (the therapeutic use of cannabis is described in detail in Chapter 2.5). The ecological advantages of hemp are particularly evident in comparison with cotton, a crop which is susceptible to insect pests and thus contains pesticide residues (Katalyse- Institut 1995), but also in comparison with wood because hemp grows much faster. Switzerland now has a hemp support project run by the Federal Office of Agriculture (Bischof 1994). This project threw into sudden and sharp focus the traditions and expertise which had been lost with the demise of hemp cultivation. Seeds had to be imported from Hungary and France, and the techniques for growing the plant had to be relearnt (Bischof 1994). Overall there is growing interest in hemp cultivation and products made from hemp.

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