Rotterdam may experiment with "municipal weed" in new cannabis policy

Rotterdam plans to soon start growing its own "municipal weed", mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said on Wednesday. The Rotterdam mayor already spoke to new Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus about participating in the new government's regulated cannabis cultivation experiment. "I was one of the first mayors to talk to Minister of Justice Grapperhaus. We would love to be the first test municipality", he said when announcing Rotterdam's new cannabis policy in the city hall, AD reports.

Aboutaleb's "municipal weed" plan has been ready for some time, according to AD. But Rotterdam was unable to implement it, because - until now - the national government was always against regulated cannabis cultivation. 

If it is up to the Rotterdam mayor, not only the production of cannabis will change in his city, but also the distribution. According to him, it is not at all obvious that coffeeshops will continue to be the main distribution point for cannabis. "The question is whether the phenomenon coffeeshop will still be needed in the future", he said in the Rotterdam city hall on Wednesday. He thinks other forms of distribution will be better. "Order online, and then get it delivered by bona fide package deliverers. Or through a vending machine."

In this way, the mayor hopes to be better able to guarantee the quality of cannabis. "With coffeeshops it is often not pure coffee", he said, according to the newspaper.