>>213849180 (OP)I just moved to California from Switzerland, and can confidently say that weed is dramatically more accessible here than it was there, despite statistics suggesting that my Swiss compatriots love their ganja—there’s a study going on in my Swiss hometown to see if free access to weed promotes addiction-like behavior among users, and if the researchers conclude that it doesn’t, some people are interested in legislating legalization, but for now at least, it remains illegal there. Even medical cannabis, which is theoretically legal under Swiss federal law, doesn’t seem to have much support (which is frankly probably all for the best, as most evidence suggests that it’s actually not very medically useful—it helps with fewer conditions than people wish it did, and it may not even be the best choice for the few indications where it really seems to work; as a doctor friend of mine put it, “the only thing that medical marijuana treats is not being stoned.”)
As for how good it is, I can only assume that the various products one can get here, legally, from shops that resemble Apple stores or design studios staffed by professional marijuana nerds, are higher in quality than whatever the francophone African dudes who commute into my previous hometown are slinging out of their backpacks. Perhaps the guys who deal online and deliver have higher-end stuff. But I’d be surprised if the average quality there were even close to what’s on the CA market.
Not relevant to me—I stopped liking weed a long time ago. I support legalization, but it’s delusional to think it hasn’t had negative consequences alongside some benefits.