In a few weeks the time has come: after years of run -up, the weed experiment will officially start. In ten municipalities in the Netherlands, including Breda and Tilburg, only legal cannabis may be sold from 7 April. The experiment runs over the next four years. After that, the conclusion is drawn whether or not weed will become legal in the Netherlands. But is there a way back after this test? “Drug policy is never finished.”
Drug historian Arjan Nuijten is optimistic about legalization. “It’s just going to happen unless we get some totally different twist in society. It is exciting how politics will turn out in the coming years.” But according to him, reversing the experiment is also not an option. “You can’t stand those coffee shops in Breda and Tilburg,” guys, we’re going to do it differently again. ”
“The experiment does not have to last four years.”
Theo Weterings, mayor of Tilburg, agrees. “I am convinced that we cannot reverse it. The fact that we have tolerated it in the Netherlands for more than thirty years has given us a special position. In the meantime, we are overtaken by other countries that go into legal cultivation and sale in one go.”
If it is up to Weterings, it can also legalize faster. “If we know that we can serve the Dutch market with legally grown weed, the experiment does not have to last four years.” According to the mayor of Tilburg, we arrive at a point that there will also be international trade in legal weed. “In the future, Cannabis, just like tomatoes, will just cross the border.”
Weed experiment in short
Since the 1970s we have had a tolerance policy in the Netherlands. You can buy and smoke weed, but you are not allowed to grow or transport weed. Cannabis is grown illegally and the coffee shops are supplied through the back door.
The government wants to change this with the weed experiment. Over the next four years, only legal cannabis can be sold in ten municipalities in the Netherlands in the Netherlands.
The aim of the experiment is to investigate whether it is possible to legally grow, transport and sell cannabis. Ten growers have been designated who can legally grow weed and deliver to the coffee shops in the experimentation municipalities.
Mayor Paul Depla of Breda also looks hopeful at the next four years. “It remains an experiment, so it can also fail. But I don’t expect it. We have already shown in Tilburg and Breda in the past year that a closed cannabis chain can be organized.”
According to him, it is now time for the next step. Depla: “Hopefully we can remove the cannabis chain from the criminal atmosphere. That you no longer have to apologize that you go to a coffee shop, just as you don’t have to apologize that you are going to a cafe. Because that is now the case with consumers and also with the legal growers.”
In the podcast series ‘Via the front door’ journalists from Omroep Brabant dive into the world of weed. Listen below the last episode of the podcast series. Do you have questions or comments about the weed experiment? Then mail the Research editor.
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Depla hopes that these prejudices will come to an end. “You just allow a tomato nursery? There is a frame of crime around cannabis and that makes people anxious.” According to him, weed belongs to our culture. “In all honesty: I am not waiting for people who smoke cannabis. I have never used it myself. But I see that there are people who prefer to smoke cannabis than drink beer and we have to respect that.”
“Drug policy is never finished.”
We have to be careful, he emphasizes. “They are stimulants that are harmful to public health. Let us then organize it well and do everything to prevent addiction.”
We cannot lean back for the next four years, says drug historian Nuijten. “Drug policy is never finished. Drug use, but trade is also a cultural phenomenon. What we use, what we trade, that changes over time and depends on trends. So you have to keep adjusting drug policy.”