Tilburg and Breda will be the first municipalities to start with the long-awaited experiment with legally grown weed and hashish. This was announced by Minister Ernst Kuipers (Public Health), also on behalf of Minister Dilan Yesilgöz (Justice), in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The intention is that the test will start at the end of this year, although there are a few conditions attached.
In recent years, the trial with regulated cannabis cultivation has been postponed several times. The intention was that all ten selected municipalities would start the experiment in the second quarter of this year, but last December Kuipers already announced that that target date could not be met.
Run-up phase
He did indicate, however, that the two cities in Brabant, Tilburg and Breda, could perhaps start earlier with a ‘start-up phase’. So that will happen now.
It is currently arranged that coffee shops are allowed to sell weed, but not to purchase. The idea of the trial is to see how the supply of weed can also be regulated. The shops in Tilburg and Breda will soon be allowed to keep a limited stock of a maximum of 500 grams. It should also be clear that six months later the trial can also start in other municipalities.
Too few growers
Whether it will actually succeed depends mainly on the possibility of properly setting up the cultivation of the cannabis. For the start-up phase in Tilburg and Breda, the cabinet wants to have at least three growers, but for the full trial with the other eight municipalities, there must be ten.
But at the moment, according to Kuipers, only one grower is ready to deliver. The others are still having problems starting cultivation. That is not easy because of problems with building materials and opening a bank account. According to the minister, the cabinet tries to support them where possible.
Happy mayors
The mayors of the participating Brabant municipalities are happy with the decision. “Where we had to wait a long time, we can now finally accelerate and really take steps,” says Paul Depla van Breda. “With this start-up phase in Brabant, we can gain first experiences, detect teething problems and gather the knowledge to perfect the experiment.”
And Theo Weterings van Tilburg is also relieved. “Persevere. The tolerance policy is bankrupt. We’ve known that for years. Finally, we can now take the first steps towards legalizing soft drugs. I am proud that Breda and Tilburg have created this ‘experiment within the experiment’ together.”
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