Legal cannabis cultivation trial to start Dec. 15 in Tilburg & Breda

The much-discussed trial to test the legalization of cannabis cultivation will finally start on December 15 after years of preparations and delays. Coffeeshops will be supplied with cannabis from permitted growers in the trial, which has been postponed several times.

The start-up phase will get underway in three months, the Cabinet confirmed on Friday. Details were submitted in a letter to Parliament written by two outgoing Cabinet members, Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz and Health Minister Ernst Kuipers.

Coffeeshops are currently allowed to sell cannabis, but they are not allowed to purchase it. The cannabis test will examine whether purchasing can also be legalized. The experiment kicks off with two legally allowed growers who will supply coffeeshops in Breda and Tilburg.

The experiences from this start-up phase can be used to make modifications during the transition phase, the moment when the other eight participating municipalities will also begin to take part in the experiment. Those cities include Arnhem, Almere, Groningen, Heerlen, Voorne aan Zee, Maastricht, Nijmegen and Zaanstad.

The Amsterdam-Oost district in the capital has presented itself as an additional participant, but a definitive answer has not yet been given as to whether the city’s eastern district can actually participate.

The start of the transition phase has not been determined, due to a lack of certainty with the planning from the cultivators involved. According to the ministers, this would launch no sooner than the end of the first quarter of 2024.

In both the start-up and the transition phase, coffeeshops may also sell illegal, but tolerated, cannabis in addition to legally grown cannabis. The final phase of the experiment will start after the six-week transition phase, the ministers said. From that point on, coffeeshops in participating municipalities may only sell regulated cannabis.

According to the ministers, setting up the experiment was more complex than expected, because once the growers have been appointed, they must have a bank account and a cultivation permit. Moreover, the coffeeshop owners want to be sure of sufficient supply and continuity of business. "Rightly so," said Kuipers, affirming this situation is not one in which someone grows "just a few plants, and harvest them once and then it's done."

The experiment should show what legal cultivation and distribution does in regard to public safety and the quality of the cannabis. "A big advantage," according to Kuipers, is that the cannabis can then be checked for "contamination with pesticides or other matters."