Amsterdam frustrated by cannabis pilot exclusion; Others happy experiment will continue

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said it was “worrying” how parliamentarians framed the debate around the cannabis cultivation experiment in the Netherlands. They were “guided by an inaccurate sentiment” when a majority of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Parliament, voted against expanding the pilot project which would have allowed the capital to participate. At the same time, there was not enough support among MPs to temporarily or permanently stop the experiment, which pleased the ten municipalities participating in the program.

“The experiment will not make access to drugs easier for young people. It just means that the production and distribution will be removed from criminals. This actually protects public health and facilitates enforcement policy. If you want to control cannabis use better, you must also check the 'back door,'" Halsema said in a written statement.

“We are not part of this for nothing,” a spokesperson for Mayor Jan Hamming of the municipality of Zaanstad when asked about her reaction to the news. The Noord-Holland municipality is one of eight where the experiment has yet to start. Legally grown cannabis has already been sold in coffeeshops in Breda and Tilburg since December. The spokesperson expects the other municipalities to wait a maximum of six months to start.

Zaanstad is in favor of the trial, partly to remove cannabis cultivation and the cashflow that results from crime, she said. "We certainly take down hemp plantations on a monthly basis, which are often set up in a haphazard manner with illegal-tapped electricity in residential areas. That is extremely dangerous."

Preparations for the pilot project are in full swing in Zaanstad, she said. "We are in discussions with coffeeshop owners and are preparing local policy and facilities."

Hubert Bruls, the mayor of Nijmegen, is also happy that the preparations can continue. “It would cause confusion and be a disservice to the years of waiting and the preparations that people have made,” he said about the pilot scheduled to start in Nijmegen in the middle of June.

The “experiment is making progress,” and that “is a good thing,” said the municipality of Voorne aan Zee, which consists of Hellevoetsluis, Brielle and Westvoorne. “So that we can use the knowledge and experience from the preparation and move towards a fully legal situation,” said Mayor Peter Rehwinkel.

Although the proposal from the PVV to temporarily pause the cannabis test did not succeed, coffee shop De Baron in Breda is "not yet confident about it." Breda is one of the municipalities where the trial had already started. The owner is afraid that the experiment in which legally grown cannabis is sold in several municipalities will be stopped with a new Cabinet.

"There was now a motion on the table for a prize, but what will happen when the PVV is in the Cabinet?" owner Rick Brand wondered. "Some parties want a break, but some also want to get rid of the plan completely. So I am now moderately positive."

The experiment has been discussed in politics in The Hague for more than ten years. "It is crazy that it is now being discussed again," said Brand. "You can't just stop an experiment in the meantime." He was not willing to say he was relieved since the experiment is not being halted for the time being. "I worry that growers will soon drop out because they do not believe in a new Cabinet."