Amsterdam mayor wants to slash medical marijuana restrictions

Mayor Eberhard van der Laan of Amsterdam wants medicinal marijuana to be more easily obtainable for people who need it, he wrote in a letter to the Dutch Senate and Ministers Stef Blok and Edith Schippers of Security and Justice and Public Health respectively, Het Parool reports.

According to the Mayor, too many people don't have access to medical marijuana, despite it being able to improve their health. Van der Laan calls for a discussion with all stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry and health insurers. According to him, the situation around medical marijuana is too unclear in the Netherlands' current tolerance policy.

This is the second such letter written by Van der Laan, who is currently battling cancer himself. Last year he wrote a letter to support Amsterdam resident and AIDS patient Rudolf Hillebrand, whose housing association wanted to evict him for growing medicinal weed for himself in his home.