Another month and then the time has come. Then coffee shop holders in the municipalities who participate in the weed experiment may only sell legal cannabis. A lot of coffee shop holders in those municipalities are now the alarm bell: according to them the date of 7 April is not feasible. “We are on the right track, but not yet completely ready. The risk of chaos and a failed experiment is therefore enormous,” they write in a fire letter.
Willem Vugs, chairman of the back door, the Association of Tilburg coffee shops, explains why they are coming up with this letter right now. “We have expressed our worries before, but the date is getting closer and that is why we are now ringing the bell.”
In the fire letter, addressed to the ten mayors of the municipalities who participate in the experiment, it can be read that the coffee shop holders make an urgent appeal to give them more time to switch to a completely legal range. They say that the range of legal cannabis that legal growers offer is too little and that the quality and diversity of the products is insufficient.
The weed experiment
In the Netherlands we have a tolerance policy when it comes to cannabis. You can smoke a joint, but you cannot grow or transport it. Coffeeshops are therefore illegally supplied through the back door.
But with the weed experiment, the government wants to change this. Since December 2023, legal cannabis has been sold in coffee shops in Breda and Tilburg in addition to tolerated cannabis. This is part of the weed experiment, or as the government calls it the ‘experiment closed coffee shop chain’.
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. In June 2024, eight more experimenting municipalities were added next to Breda and Tilburg.
From 7 April this year, the coffee shops in the experimentation municipalities can only sell legal cannabis.
The coffee shops only want to switch to a fully legal range when all participating shops have access to sufficient different types of good quality cannabis. For this, more growers must be ready to deliver. Six out of ten are now designated growers.
When are they ready?
According to Vugs, when a grower or a coffee shop is ‘ready’ for it, a broad concept is, according to Vugs. “We understand that the entire menu in the coffee shops will not immediately become legally available. But in the field of hashish, joints and edibles (Weed that is processed in edible products, ed.) Must be made a huge blow. It’s hard to hang there for a while. ”
If there is not enough supply of certain types of cannabis, it entails risks according to Vugs. “If customers can no longer find their favorite product in the shop, those customers can disappear in illegality. Whether they are moving to other cities where they still sell tolerated weed, such as Eindhoven or Den Bosch,” he explains. When there is a high -quality replaceable legal product with which the consumer is satisfied, he sees no reason for customers to leave. “But we’re not that far yet,” he says.
Want to know more about the weed experiment? Listen below to the podcast series ‘Via the front door’, via your favorite PodcastApp or go to Omroepbrabant.nl/podcast.
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‘Unite dominant position’
According to him, the system is not sustainable at the moment. “What you see now is that cannabis of a certain species, of good good quality – for which there is a lot of demand – is quickly sold out. There is so little that it cannot be stuck on the coffee shop of the coffee shop.”
In the fire letter, the coffee shop holders write that there would be an ‘improper position of power’ of the growers who are already ready to deliver. For example, they would have one coffee shop pay a higher price than the other. “The reason for this is hard to say. Not all shops indicate this, but it is a frequently heard complaint in which coffee shops do not feel heard.”
But he also sees the other side. “There are few growers and those growers who are there must provide all coffee shops within the cannabis weed experiment. And they only have a limited offer.”
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To trust
Is now being adhered to the date of 7 April, what are the consequences for the coffee shops in the experimentation municipalities? According to Vugs, that is difficult to predict. He does think that smaller coffee shops will fall earlier. “The smallest shops are further away from the growers than the big coffee shops. They are struggling to build a good relationship and to be able to continue to offer a decent menu.”
Vugs still has a lot of faith in the weed experiment. “It’s a matter of granting growers more time to get the matter in order. Then it will certainly be a great success.”
Mayors
Mayor Paul Depla of Breda understands the worries, but wonders if there are other price agreements with different shops. “If that is the case, the ministry must intervene. But if other interests play, then it is a different story.”
According to him, postponing is not necessarily the solution. “I see that there is an issue, but I am not that far to say there are unreasonable market conditions and it must be postponed. Because you also touch the growers who have invested a lot.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Theo Weterings van Tilburg announced that the signal that can be read in the letter was previously shared with the mayor. “Next week there will be an administrative consultation, but we are not yet increasing.”