This article is more than 1 year old

The steaks have never been higher: Swiss Lidl is selling local cannabis

Cheech and Chong wouldn't bother, though

Budget supermarket chain Lidl, best known for giving shoppers greater bhang for their buck, is offering a more... high-end product.

Swiss customers can now purchase two products derived from hemp flowers as an alternative to rolling tobacco.

Lidl's supplier, a startup called The Botanicals, has grown the hemp flowers exclusively in northeastern Switzerland in partially automated greenhouses and specially designed indoor facilities.

The products are supposed to be high in cannabidiol (CBD), a naturally occurring chemical in cannabis and hemp plants.

A 1.5g box, from plants grown indoors, costs 17.99 Swiss francs (£13.20). A 3g bag will set you back 19.99 Swiss francs.

However, before you cancel travel plans to the Netherlands, punters should be warned the items are designed to provide a relaxing and anti-inflammatory effect, rather than something more intoxicating.

"The manufacturer relies on sustainable agriculture and refrains entirely from adding chemical, synthetic or genetically modified substances," said Lidl.

In 2011 Switzerland changed the law to allow adults to use cannabis containing no more than 1 per cent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the chemical that induces a high.

Swiss supermarket Coop already sells hemp cigarettes, another CBD product low in psychoactive THC.

Back in Blighty, Ocado has begun stocking Love Hemp Water – the first CBD-infused water in Europe. However, consumers would have to ingest 25 litres of the stuff in order to get even a low dose associated with health benefits.

All of which raises the question – why bother? ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like