Dutch legal culture program criticized by municipalities that requested it

While dozens of Dutch municipalities had expressed their desire to participate in the program to pilot the legal cultivation of cannabis, they are backing out one by one in the face of the government’s unreasonable demands. The government may ultimately have a hard time finding volunteers. By allowing municipalities to produce cannabis within their jurisdictions, the pilot program was intended to resolve the current ambiguity in the system of coffee shops Dutch people who legally sell cannabis but obtain their supplies illegally on the black market.

Impossible Requests

Municipal leaders have expressed their dissatisfaction through the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG). One of the main objections raised is that the pilot program will not automatically be continued even if it is successful. It seems inconsistent for municipalities to ask the coffee shops to go back to buying on the black market after four years of legal procurement. «It’s immoral,» says Breda Mayor Paul Depla indignantly.

Two other measures sparked discontent: the fact that all the coffee shops that the cities in question be required to participate in the pilot program and restrict sales to Dutch residents only. According to Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, asking all coffee shops It seems impossible for them to cut off all contact with their suppliers at the same time and all at once. The city has no fewer than 166 coffee. It is also the historic hub of a lucrative cannabis tourism industry; the idea of not selling to foreigners there seems inconceivable. This measure also poses a problem for border towns like Venlo, where many Germans come to buy cannabis.

Another point of contention concerns the limited number of varieties available under the program—10 to 14 varieties of marijuana and 5 to 10 types of hashish. By comparison, the product range in Amsterdam includes more than 100 varieties. Such restrictions could lead consumers to turn directly to the black market, and the coffee shops to circumvent regulations. They would therefore be completely counterproductive and would doom the pilot program to failure from the outset. The municipalities have requested a meeting with Health Minister Bruno Bruins and Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus to discuss the regulations. They are not alone in rejecting the program, which has also been criticized by the Council of State, the government’s highest advisory body.

Amsterdam Refuses to Participate

The Mayor of Amsterdam sent a letter to Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus and Health Minister Bruno Bruins, announcing that the city would not participate in the program as it is currently designed. It considers the program unworkable and «dangerous to public order.» It is calling for it to be revised to include more gradual and measured measures that would, in this case, allow certain coffee shops not to participate in the program, at least for a certain period of time, and which would establish a transition period during which the coffee could sell off their inventory before sourcing their supplies exclusively from the municipality.

Ideally, the city would like to participate in the pilot program. In fact, along with Rotterdam and Utrecht, it was one of the project’s original initiators. That is why it is asking for the regulations to be adjusted. The city is home to about a quarter of the coffees from across the country. For some, like Jozias van Aartsen, who served as Amsterdam’s acting mayor in 2017, it’s too much, but for others, such as the leader of the Democrats 66 party, «If it doesn’t work in Amsterdam, there’s no point.».