Narcotics Act (BetmG)

The BetmG (Betäubungsmittelgesetz, Federal Act on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, SR 812.121) of 3 October 1951 is the Swiss federal law on narcotics. It defines narcotics, regulates their availability for medical and scientific purposes, contains the rules on cannabis, including the medical exception since 1 August 2022 and the pilot trials, and contains the criminal provisions. For narcotics used as therapeutic products, the Therapeutic Products Act (HMG) applies, and the BetmG applies where that Act has no or less extensive rules (Art. 1, 1b and 2 BetmG). The consolidated version in force on 20 October 2026 is dated 1 September 2023.

Where the medical rules sit in the Act

• Art. 8 para. 1 let. d: since 1 August 2022, the cultivation, import, production and placing on the market of cannabis-type narcotics are prohibited only insofar as they are not used for medical purposes.
• Art. 8a: scientific pilot trials with cannabis for non-medical purposes, in force until 14 May 2031. Consumption for medical reasons is not part of the trials.
• Art. 8b and 18f: the MeCanna data collection of the BAG and its information system, in force until 31 July 2029.
• Art. 10 and 11: physicians practising under their own professional responsibility are authorised to prescribe narcotics, but only to the extent required by the recognised rules of medical science.
• Art. 13: pharmacies may dispense narcotics to the public only on a medical prescription.

The details are in the ordinances, notably the BetmKV (control and prescription rules) and the BetmVV-EDI (lists of controlled substances).

Where patients meet it

Cannabis for medical purposes is not a prohibited narcotic, but a controlled one subject to all control measures (Art. 8 para. 1 let. d BetmG; Annex 2 BetmVV-EDI). Since 1 August 2022, any licensed Swiss physician may prescribe medical cannabis where medically indicated; no special permit is required (Art. 8 para. 5 let. b and Art. 10 para. 1 BetmG). There is no entitlement to a prescription; the physician decides on the basis of the medical assessment.