Now that he can legally sell weed, a new era is dawning for coffee shop owner Willem Vugs. He has been selling hash and weed in Tilburg for 33 years. He is happy with it, but also has his reservations, because there is a lot involved: “There is an extensive control system. There is not a single product in the world that is sold in this way.”
Customers line up at Toermalijn on the Besterdring on Friday morning. But they cannot yet find legal weed on the extensive ‘menu’. Vugs will only start on January 3. “We still have a lot of work to do in preparation. The staff needs to be trained.”
“Everything gets a unique QR code. I find it unnecessary and cumbersome.”
Because Vugs and his colleagues have to work in a completely different way. “Every joint, bag of weed or container of hash is given a unique QR code by the grower. So you can track where it comes from. I find it unnecessary and cumbersome. But the government considers this necessary, otherwise they would not trust it.”
It does scare Vugs. Because if he makes a mistake twice with this tracking system, the mayor can close his business. “He promised in advance to approach it carefully. But it’s not a guarantee. The system is so complicated that mistakes will often be made in the coming months. We are not robots, we work with people.”
Vugs is saddened by the fact that the criminal image of the coffee shop is disappearing: “We are always seen as a semi-illegal company. That changes now. My business will have a different image in the neighborhood.” But he has no illusions: “Some people will always be against the use of weed and hashish.”
There are eleven coffee shops in Tilburg, all of which will be required to participate in the cannabis test sometime in the next six months. According to Vugs, everyone except a few is happy to participate.
“Some customers don’t want ‘state weed’.”
Still, some customers are not yet convinced, Vugs notes: “Unfortunately, the term state weed is often used. But that’s not true. The growers are not state nurseries. They are commercial companies that grow cannabis.”
Regular customer Luc from Belgium has been coming to Toermalijn for sixteen years. He is looking forward to legal weed: “Finally. I like to know what I’m smoking. I don’t want all that synthetic rubbish.” Sander, a regular customer for 33 years, is also positive: “You get better quality control. And you can simply levy tax on it.”
According to Vugs, prices will be ‘reasonable’ and will remain more or less the same. But he is afraid of the options. His business now has a ‘menu’ with dozens of options. From ‘Diamond Maroc’ and ‘Indian Kashmir’ hash to ‘Space Cookies’ and ‘Zlushie’ weed. Vugs: “I think it will take some time to make such a diverse range legal.”
“Otherwise, customers will disappear into the illegal circuit.”
For the first six months, coffee shops in Tilburg and Breda are allowed to offer a mix of legal and illegal products. Then it’s over. Vugs hopes that growers will then have their supply up to standard: “Otherwise, customers will disappear into the illegal circuit. Or they go to cities like Eindhoven and Den Bosch, where they can still get hash and weed from Morocco or Afghanistan.”
That is Vugs’ great fear. Because if he cannot give his customers what they want, it will be fatal for his business. But he is optimistic: “For more than 25 years I dreamed that this industry would become legal. If what we do is no longer punishable, that will be a very big gain.”
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The first legal cannabis went over the counter on Friday morning