The origins of cannabis tolerance in the Netherlands

The Netherlands, and its capital Amsterdam, have until now been considered Europe's cannabis paradise. And while this could soon change, the Netherlands hasn't always been so. In the '70s, weed began to be democratized, and in 1972 a report entitled «Hemp: when the rope is pulled» compares the recreational use of cannabis to that of alcohol and tobacco.

In 1976, a Dutch law separated soft drugs from hard drugs. At the time, heroin addicts were running the streets, even crowding them. In order to concentrate solely on heroin trafficking, the Dutch government wanted to decriminalize and then quickly legalize cannabis. In the end, it was only decriminalized, but Holland was the first country to pass such a far-reaching measure. The government of the time felt that it was impossible to prevent people from taking drugs. They had to be allowed to consume in a secluded area without causing a nuisance to other citizens.

The authorities then set up a coffeeshop system: bars selling fruit juices or refreshments can now offer marie-jeanne. To do so, 7 golden rules must be respected:

• sale of a maximum of 5 grams per person
• stock not exceeding 500 grams
• a coffee shop must not create a nuisance
• ban on selling hard drugs
• no sale of soft drugs to minors
• coffee shops are not allowed to advertise soft drugs
• coffee shops must not be located within 250 metres of a school

Henk de Vriej was the first to set up a coffeeshop in 1975. He used his father's sex shop, located in the Red light district as its operational base. In the early days, there was no margin between purchases and sales. Then the boom in cannabis tourism led him to turn a profit on his products. The benchmark for cannabis tourism The bulldog is launched.

There's still an incomprehensible legal quirk in the Netherlands. Buying, selling, possession up to 5 grams and consumption are legal. But large-scale supply and cultivation are prohibited. Coffeeshop owners are therefore obliged to deal with black-market criminal networks to replenish their stocks. Illegal cannabis cultivation in the Netherlands is estimated to be worth 5 billion euros a year.

Theo Caillart