Eleventh municipality to legally distribute cannabis in the Netherlands

At the end of last week, the Dutch Commission for Public Order and Security held a debate entitled «Fighting crime, personal injury and organized crime», in the presence of Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius.

Various issues relating to the experimentation of legal cannabis production in the Netherlands, which is falling behind schedule, or the legalization of cannabis in Germany were asked.

The Minister specified that the 11th city to join the experiment had not yet been designated. However, two major cities are said to have expressed interest. The balance is tipped in favor of one of the two cities, whose mayor is currently in discussions with local stakeholders. The decision will be announced this autumn.

She also confirmed that she was looking into the possibility of launching the’production trials for coffeeshops in response to a recent appeal from the mayors of Breda and Tilburg.

«A number of mayors have indeed floated the idea of an earlier start-up phase to gain small-scale experience. And we - Minister Kuipers and I - are exploring the possibilities and stakeholder support for this. I myself, in my role, have always said: «I'm pragmatic about all this experience». We have clear agreements in the coalition agreement. I think it's wise to abide by them. [But I don't want to create new problems. [...] I know that this delay is causing great irritation among a number of members of the chamber, so it seems fair to me to add that this delay is not a postponement in any case.»

She also clarified that, for the time being, each producer must wait until all producers are ready to start before delivering their products to the coffeeshops. Producers who are ready earlier will not receive any financial compensation for the delay.

For coffeeshop owners, a later start-up currently means that they will be longer dependent on back-door supply and cannot yet offer legal cannabis in their coffeeshop.

In any case, the addition of an eleventh city will not delay the launch of the experiment.

When asked if she followed developments in Germany, Dilan Yesilgöz Zegerius confirmed that she was observing what was going on. However, it is impossible to predict to what extent the Dutch cannabis market will be affected. It will also depend on how legalization takes shape in Germany, which is the only country in the world that has a legal cannabis market. for the moment completely undetermined.

«However, it will be interesting to monitor the impact of legalization in Germany on drug tourism in the Netherlands,» she added.