JUDGE RULES SWISS TRADE IN AROMATIC HEMP ILLEGAL

ZURICH, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Switzerland's budding domestic marijuana trade
took a direct hit on Friday when a judge ruled that selling cannabis in
aroma sachets, long in legal limbo, was clearly against the law.

The ruling in a test case, although likely to be appealed, could spell the
end of a quirky three-year boom in marijuana selling in Switzerland based
on an apparent loophole in the wording of the law.

``It is quite clear that cannabis is a narcotic and falls under the
narcotics law,'' Zurich district judge Thomas Meyer told a courtroom packed
with friends of shop owner Bruno Hiltebrand and supporters of legalising
marijuana.

Consumption of drugs made from the hemp plant is illegal in Switzerland, as
in most countries, but hemp enthusiasts in the mid-1990s discovered what
they saw as a turn of phrase that bans marijuana only if it is sold
specifically as a narcotic.

The Swiss law against narcotics refers only to ``hemp when it is cultivated
in order to produce a narcotic,'' not to the hemp plant as such, which is
also grown for its fiber and other agricultural uses.

Swiss hemp growers started selling the dried leaves and buds packed as
aroma sachets and labelled ``not for consumption'' about three years ago,
and hemp shops now number over 200, with 50 in the Zurich area alone.

But judge Meyer ruled that other parts of the law and decisions by the
Swiss supreme court made it clear that dried hemp was an illegal narcotic
regardless of how it is labelled.

Hiltebrand was sentenced to a suspended 14 month sentence and fined 120,000
Swiss francs.

``I am shocked by the sentence. I had counted on an acquittal,'' said
39-year-old Hiltebrand after appearing in court.

Hiltebrand's lawyer said they would probably appeal, a process that could
go all the way to the supreme court in one or two years.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski