Swiss capital city wants to test controlled sale of cocaine

With 43 votes to 18, the city parliament approved a motion from the Alternative Left to extend trials with cannabis to the future legal sale of cocaine.

Despite recognising that cocaine is a harmful drug, Bern politicians believe that supervised sales could lead to better control of the narcotic, reported SRF

The motion met with opposition mainly from right leaning and centre parties, such as the Swiss People’s Party, Radical-Liberal Party, Evangelical Party. They argued that such a decision should be left to the federal government.

However, Franziska Teuscher, Bern's Director of Education, Social Affairs and Sport, pointed out that: "The government only agreed to the cannabis pilot projects under pressure from the cities."