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Eberhard van der laan
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Thursday, 28 May 2015 - 09:59
Amsterdam mayor: Growing our own weed totally illegal
According to Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan, it is currently legally impossible to start with an experiment on regulated cannabis cultivation. But he promises to continue to work hard in The Hague for permission to perform such an experiment.
Van der Laan said this to the Amsterdam city council on Wednesday, ANP reports. End 2014 Van der Laan told the council to examine possibilities for regulated cannabis cultivation. The municipality would appoint companies to legally grow cannabis. In theory this should insure the quality of the cannabis and reduce illegal crops.
The mayor has now come to the conclusion that within the framework of the law it is currently impossible to experiment with regulated cannabis cultivation. He added that other municipalities have come to the same conclusion. "It is obvious what the central government thinks of the matter. The Minister of Security and Justice, like his predecessor, is adamantly opposed." Van der Laan said.
Van der Laan will continue to lobby in The Hague for permission to do a temporary experiment through a so-called cannabis social club in a former coffee shop in the city, ANP reports. He will also draw attention to the so-called backdoor problem present in the current situation. He wants to talk about Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice about allowing larger commercial stocks in coffee shops, tolerating storing stock in a location outside the coffee shop and the toleration of transport between the storage place and the point of sale.