'Cocaine sold at price of beer': Switzerland mulls legalising drug for recreational use in 'world's first'

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selling cocaine for recreational use. It is seen as a radical approach to the war on drugs that is not thought to have been tried elsewhere. According to Reuters, the city's parliament still needs to overcome opposition from the city government and will also require a change in national law.

This comes as Switzerland is re-examining its stance on the drug. Some politicians and experts reportedly criticised a complete ban on drugs as ineffective. The latest proposal is currently in its early stages, while trials are underway to permit the legal sale of cannabis.

Eva Chen, a member of the Bern council from the Alternative Left Party, who co-sponsored the proposal, was quoted as saying, "The war on drugs has failed, and we have to look at new ideas...Control and legalisation can do better than mere repression." Chen said it was too early to say how a pilot scheme would develop, including where the drug would be sold or how it would be sourced. "We are still far away from potential legalisation, but we should look at new approaches. We are calling for a scientifically supervised pilot scheme trial," Chen was quoted by Mirror as saying.

The report term the proposal at Bern Parliament as the "world's first". Switzerland has one of the highest rates of cocaine use in Europe, according to the levels of illicit drugs and their metabolites measured in waste water. Prices for the drug in Switzerland have also halved over the past five years, Mirror reported.