Experiment to sell legally grown cannabis starts in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, an experiment to sell legally grown cannabis starts on Friday. Cannabis cafés in ten cities and one district of Amsterdam, known as coffeeshops, are to be supplied by certified growers for four years - until now they have had to rely on illegal drug dealers to buy their supplies.
Hasn't cannabis already been legal in the Netherlands for a long time? No, that's a big misunderstanding: cannabis is not legal in the Netherlands. However, the sale and consumption of small quantities in coffee shops has been "gedoogd" - i.e. tolerated - since 1976. Anyone who consumes hashish or marijuana there is officially breaking the law, but will not be prosecuted. Until now, however, it has been illegal and not tolerated in the Netherlands to grow cannabis or supply the coffee shops.
Why should this system be changed? Because cultivation and wholesale are prohibited, the almost 570 coffee shops in the country are currently forced to buy cannabis from illegal dealers, who are often part of organized crime. The Dutch tolerance policy, which is not uncontroversial anyway, has therefore led to a bizarre legal gray area.
In order to improve the legal situation and combat drug-related crime as a whole, the government in The Hague decided to launch a pilot project for the legal cultivation of cannabis back in 2019. Since then, the exact framework conditions have been negotiated.
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The experiment to legally purchase cannabis from certified growers begins on Friday in the Netherlands, marking a shift from relying on illegal dealers. This change aims to improve the legal situation and combat drug-related crime, as current regulations force coffee shops to purchase cannabis from illicit sources. The sale of cannabis in coffee shops has been tolerated in the Netherlands since 1976, but cultivation and wholesale have remained illegal.
Source: www.ntv.de
