Majority of Dutch in favor of legalized cannabis cultivation, sales

Six in ten Netherlands residents believe that the production, supply, and sale of cannabis and hashish should be legal. It is currently prohibited to grow cannabis, and growers are also not allowed to supply coffee shops, but the government tolerates the sale. Only 11 percent believe this current policy works well and nothing needs to change. That is the conclusion of Kieskompas and ANP based on a survey completed by over 6,000 Dutch people.

In almost all provinces, a majority is in favor of legalization. That group is the largest in Groningen and Flevoland, at around 70 percent. People from Drenthe and Zeeland are the least likely to favor legalization and are also the most likely to think that weed should not be tolerated at all.

Voting behavior is strongly related to opinions about the cannabis policy. People who voted for GroenLinks-PvdA, Volt, or PvdD during last year’s parliamentary elections are most often in favor of full legalization. Voters from PVV, FvD, and JA21 most often want to continue the current tolerance policy. SGP voters are by far the most often against both legalization and the tolerance policy.

Ten municipalities will participate in the regulated cannabis experiment in the coming years. The experiment has already started in Tilburg and Breda, and cities like Almere, Groningen, and Maastricht will join later this year. The experiment examines how cannabis growers can legally supply quality-controlled cannabis to coffeeshops. The aim is, among other things, to reduce (undermining) crime. For a while, it was uncertain whether the project would continue at all, because the PVV wanted to pause the cannabis trial until a new Cabinet takes office. However, the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, voted against that proposal last month.

Smoking cannabis became legal in Germany on Monday. Weed is already fully legal for recreational use in Portugal, Malta, Uruguay, and several American states, among others.

The survey was carried out by Kieskompas between the end of March and the beginning of April and was completed by a representative group of 6,601 Dutch adults. They gave their opinion on fully legalizing the production, supply, and sale of cannabis for recreational use.