Amsterdam wants to participate in the national weed experiment with a city district. The city will investigate which district is suitable for the test, Mayor Femke Halsema has informed the cabinet.
With the weed trial, the cabinet wants to investigate whether the sale of hemp and hashish can be legalized in the Netherlands and what the effects are on crime and public health.
In 2019, the House of Representatives voted in favor of the legal cannabis cultivation trial. In ten municipalities, it would be investigated whether it is possible to provide coffee shops with controlled weed. Amsterdam had expressed interest in participating, but with 166 coffee shops the city turned out to be too big for the experiment, reports NH Nieuws/AT5.
Halsema even wrote a letter to then-minister Grapperhaus in which she pleaded for an adjustment of the conditions so that at least one of the major cities could participate. According to the city council, the experiment was “doomed to fail” if Amsterdam could not participate.
‘Several districts suitable’
The government recently decided to expand the trial with an eleventh municipality. To this end, an amendment must be made to the Closed Coffee Shop Chain Experiment Act, which is currently before the House of Representatives.
According to the municipality, various districts are suitable for the test due to their scale and population. The Amsterdam triangle, consisting of the police, judiciary and the mayor, agreed to the experiment in January.
The city is in talks with the Ministries of Justice and Security and Public Health about participation. The municipality also hopes to enter into discussions with the city districts and the coffee shop sector in the near future. The aim is to designate a district for the test in May.
The start date of the weed experiment has been pushed back several times. Last December it became clear that the test will be postponed again. Legally produced weed will probably not be sold in the eleven municipalities until 2024.
- Weed experiment postponed again, now scheduled to start in 2024
- One of ten growers involved in cannabis experiment loses permit
- Hardly a plant grows, yet millions are already involved in the weed test
