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

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 …

  1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    All of which raises the question – why bother?

    All of which raises the question – why bother?

    Science should never stand in the way of homeopathy and marketing.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: All of which raises the question – why bother?

      Don't knock homeopathy, it cured my gullibility.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All of which raises the question – why bother?

    The same reason they sell Absinthe with only trace amounts of wormwood.

    Because teenagers will buy it in order to impress their friends with how cool they are.

    See also: iphone.

  3. Khaptain Silver badge

    Not just Lidl

    Selling cannabis is now legal in Switzerland, the only constraint is that it must have a THC content of lower than 1%..

    Even In Geneva's main train station their is a shop "Marry Janes" in the sub gallery ( The double R is intentional).. The products are well presented and things are done professionally, on top of that it is relatively cheap...

    The low THC content means you can have a smoke without having to get utterly stoned.

    High THC content does nothing more than get one seriously wasted and can remove the pleasure from desiring no more than a light high.. It also means that there is need need to hank out with shady people....

    I think the Swiss are doing this correctly, in an adult manner.

    1. Stoneshop
      Headmaster

      Re: Not just Lidl

      Even In Geneva's main train station their is a shop "Marry Janes" in the sub gallery ( The double R is intentional)..

      What about your use of 'their' in stead of 'there'?

    2. leegee

      Re: Not just Lidl

      1%? So, not worth buying. Some kind client has sent me to work in Oregon — 25% THC seems standard in the legal 'dispensaries' here, 35% common.

    3. Tikimon
      Angel

      Re: Not just Lidl

      "High THC content does nothing more than get one seriously wasted and can remove the pleasure from desiring no more than a light high"

      Did you really say that as an argument? If you only want a light high, only smoke a little. Every stoner I know figured that out without much trouble.

      Here are TWO good reasons for high-content weed. First, it's typically sold by weight. Weed with more kick costs less per unit of Chill (lol) and goes much farther before running out. Second, smoking weed means burning it. There are no known carcinogens in pot smoke, but plenty of regular combustion products. High-THC weed means smoking LESS to get the same high. Never ever buy the cheap stuff, it's bad for your wallet and health.

      Game, Set, and MATCH for high-THC pot.

      1. LucreLout

        Re: Not just Lidl

        Game, Set, and MATCH for high-THC pot.

        Game, Set, and Munchies, surely?

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: Not just Lidl

          "Did you really say that as an argument? If you only want a light high, only smoke a little. Every stoner I know figured that out without much trouble."

          I've been about and I am no stranger to much worse than a little bit of weed...I know how to take a hit, lol.

          I've smoked quite a bit of pot/hash/weed for test purposes obviously ;-) and I can confirm without a doubt that high THC content knocks me on the floor.

          The Swiss stuff, high CBD content definitely does not knock me over.. and yet the high content THC that I tested on my last trip to Amsterdam absolutely blew me away.

          "Only smoke a little " : That's like saying it's not worth buying alcohol at any less than 80% ( Stroe Rum comes to mind) and only taking little sips. No thanks...

          It's all horses for courses but I like the option of having choice.

          1. phuzz Silver badge

            Re: Not just Lidl

            "It's all horses for courses but I like the option of having choice."

            Exactly, some days you just want the equivalent of a session ale.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As a long time student of Marijuana (over 25 years),which included an extended period of living in The Netherlands, I am a little surprised everyone is so lax about CBD's.

    Sure THC gets you high, that is chatty energetic, and sometimes a little mad, but CBD's are what get you stoned. For those of you who don't understand the difference..

    Sometimes people chat a lot, and are chirpy, happy, lovey dovey after a joint. The joint they smoked consisted of mainly THC as the active ingredient.

    Sometimes people smoke then sit a chair, unable to move or communicate with the world. These people are stoned, because the main active ingredient in their joint was CBD's.

    While it is the CBD's that tend to provide the physical pain relief that many medical users take advantage of, I am not sure promoting free reign of CBD's vs THC will work out well in the long run. For me, life is about balance, and restricting one side over another, generally ends up kicking us in the balls somewhere down the line.

    1. Michael Habel

      Life is about balance, and restricting one side over another, generally ends up kicking us in the balls somewhere down the line.

      Or or some wrinkely old ballsack looking dude will come along, and take over the entire known Galaxy, while sending his 'Agents' out to put down some Sect of Space Priests. Who will have all been, but forgotten about in around Twenty Years time. Before some millennial comes 'round and destroys your new shiny, shiny.

      It makes me pine even more for the original '77 Cut now. T_T

      May (the) 4th be with you.

      1. onefang

        "Or or some wrinkely old ballsack looking dude will come along, and take over the entire known Galaxy, while sending his 'Agents' out to put down some Sect of Space Priests. Who will have all been, but forgotten about in around Twenty Years time. Before some millennial comes 'round and destroys your new shiny, shiny."

        I'll have what he's having.

    2. Elmer Phud

      And some . . .

      Some like a little doobie, a mini-buzzer, a small hit rather than a big fat bifter.

      why?

      Because they like to function AND get stoned rather than vegetate on Netflix. Save the heavy eyelids for later on in the day.

      Some have been doing this for a very long time - over twice that 25 years.

      "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"

    3. leegee

      I"ve never heard anyone talk about CBD the way you do — it has been on the market here in Oregon for some years, is widely consumed by dudes and celebs alike. Are you perhaps confusing the CBC/THC duality with that of sativa/indica? Those two do have the effects you describe.

      THC can confuse....:P

  5. JassMan
    IT Angle

    Confused

    I have read the article twice and haven't found any mention of injecting beef with THC. Is the headline trying to imply that shoppers in Swiss Lidl stores are called "steaks" ?

    1. Robert Helpmann??
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Confused

      Its because Lidl stores sell st... Weight... it runes the joke if you halve too explain it. Let's meat up there and find out if the gnu products are worth righting home about.

    2. DoubleBass

      Re: Confused

      Yeah, it was obviously a misteak!

    3. chivo243 Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Confused

      @JassMan

      The joke is Swiss Steak... My grandma used to make a meal called Swiss Steak, usually the toughest piece of meat on the cow, cooked for hours in lots of chopped veggies and tomatoes, served over riced potatoes or mashed...

      Paris, as she likes a bit of beef...

  6. chivo243 Silver badge
    Meh

    I'll be throwing a party

    Alcohol free beer and 1% thc buds... whoohoo?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'll be throwing a party

      They could name their strain of weed "Kaliber".

  7. Elmer Phud

    Every Lidl helps

    (as title)

    1. Blitheringeejit
      Coat

      Unless you are actually Tesco, in which case....

      every Lidl hurts.

      Ahem.

      /coat

  8. DJO Silver badge

    Alternative to baccy

    This would be a useful alternative for baccy in spliffs for users who don't want to or can't smoke spliffs of pure grass or who have a source of hash but don't want to use it with baccy.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Alternative to baccy

      20 euros for 3 grams of baccy substitute is probably considerably more than the price of the hash, and a pipe...

  9. Spudley

    All of which raises the question – why bother?

    Because people are willing to buy it, and pay enough for it to generate a decent profit.

    Surely, that's all the justification needed to sell anything. There are plenty of totally pointless products out there happily making a tidy amount of money.

    1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      There are plenty of totally pointless products out there happily making a tidy amount of money

      Paging Gwyneth Paltrow! Ms Paltrow to the phosgene-free, carbon-neutral, independently-produced-by-stoned-meercats sphincter-phone please!

      1. Ben Bonsall

        Hopefully all phones are phosgene free, it's a registered chemical weapon...

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    THC/CBD ..

    are balanced in naturally occurring strains of cannabis ... there's evidence that while THC may not be good for people prone to psychosis, CBD is in fact an natural anti-psychotic.

    So natural cannabis isn't really so bad.

    Of course as soon as prohibition bites, people engineer high-THC/low-CBD strains and cause all sorts of problems.

    Funny, I've grown more cannabis plants than a lot of people out there, and still have to listen to "experts" who couldn't tell their indica from their sativa from the ruderalis, let alone have a cogent discussion about polyploidy on medicinal strains, or how to ensure a stable F1 descendant.

    Much like the "experts" who think hashtags control the interweb ...

    Maybe El Reg should have a "big spliff" icon ??????

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