Two companies in West Brabant wanted to legally grow cannabis. But they were not welcome anywhere to build a greenhouse. That’s why they lost out in the national race because you have to have a place for your plants somewhere. The weed companies continue to try to get a ticket for the trial through the courts.
The attempts seem hopeless. All places for the weed test are taken. Ten growers are participating nationally. They are busy preparing. The project is ‘full’.
Process
Yet the door is still slightly open. As long as that trial has not started, there is a waiting list of companies. Two West Brabant weed companies are still trying to get on that list. They filed a lawsuit against the ministers for Medical Care and Justice and Security who are responsible for the weed test. On Thursday it served in Breda.
The most famous weed company that fell by the wayside is Project C. from Breda. For the company, the road seemed clear in Etten-Leur. The weed nursery was planned on the Lochtsepad. “There was a zoning plan for a cultivation company. Then it doesn’t matter whether blackberries or cannabis are grown,” said lawyer Peter Schouten. “The weed test involves major financial interests.”
‘Dagger in the back’
Etten-Leur was on its way to a legal nursery. And then suddenly the mayor put a stop to that. According to Project C., this was due to vague feelings of insecurity among the inhabitants and a police report and they were put aside too easily.
“We did everything in the open. But were stabbed in the back by backroom politics,” said GP Ronald Roothans of Project C. Peter Schouten also believes that the municipality has not sufficiently explained what the objection was.
‘Stress’
The other company that still wants to be put on the waiting list is Outernet in Oosterhout. That is what a greenhouse on the Liesboslaan in Breda had in mind. There the site owner pulled the plug. The lawyer said on Thursday that the weed entrepreneur was eager. “He just wanted it very much. There is damage to the image and the gentleman has had a lot of stress from it.”
The Breda court is now looking at the objections of Project C and Outernet. This concerns, for example, how the municipality of Etten-Leur issued negative advice to the ministries in The Hague. If that advice rattled, perhaps the municipalities or ministries should do their homework again.
The weed growers seem to be aiming for a place in the waiting room, hoping that other companies will drop out. A decision by the administrative court in Breda will follow on 11 May.
Weed trial
The trial with legal weed should put an end to decades of uncertainty surrounding coffee shops. Those coffee shops are allowed to sell weed, but not actually buy it.
It seems more and more that Brabant is getting the scoop. One of the ten selected companies is already ready for the weed deliveries. It concerns Fyta in Waalwijk. That company can supply coffee shops in Breda and Tilburg from the end of this year.
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