Tilburg in favor of regulated cannabis production

Yesterday a majority of the Tilburg City Council voted in favor of a proposal that will allow for an experiment with legalized selling and producing of cannabis. Through this proposal the council, together with other local councils, aims to put pressure on the national government to change legislation on cannabis.

B & W of Tilburg, the executive board of the city, also backed the proposal, which is in line with what the VNG, the Association of Netherlands Municipalities, stated last week. The VNG declared the current policy obsolete and advocates a specific law that regulates the production and sale of cannabis in the Netherlands. The proposal however, is meant as a statement and not so much as a way to actually bring regulated cannabis growing into practice.

Tolerance policy

Although formally the possession of cannabis is illegal, the unique Dutch gedoogbeleid or tolerance policy allows for individuals to possess a maximum amount of five grams cannabis for personal use and the cultivation of five plants or less. Most people buy their soft drugs in the so called coffeeshops. And this is where the legislators have been struggling for years to come up with a workable solution: the coffeeshops are tolerated and regulated up to a certain point even though the production and sale of cannabis in larger quantities is a criminal offence.

The VNG wants the national government to regulate not only the sale but also the cultivation and production of cannabis. The idea behind the proposals of VNG and individual cities like Tilburg is that with better laws it becomes easier to curb the problems that local authorities encounter in the current situation. Especially in the south of the Netherlands ‘drugs tourism’ causes local nuisances and criminal activities. These could be curbed if the production and sale was regulated. Up until now however, Dutch parliament has always opposed laws that regulate cannabis cultivation.

_Advertentie.