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AMSTERDAM WANTS TO TAKE PART IN NATIONAL CANNABIS CULTIVATION EXPERIMENT Amsterdam city council is hoping to take part in the regulated marihuana cultivation and sales experiment which the Dutch government plans to launch in 2024.
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Amsterdam wants to participate in the national experiment to regulate the cannabis supply chain for coffeeshops, or to test to determine whether it is possible to make cannabis cultivation legal. The Dutch government project has faced numerous delays over the years, after first garnering majority support in Parliament in 2016. The municipality is investigating which city district should take part, Mayor Femke Halsema told the national Cabinet. The municipality aims to designate a district in May. The mayor, the local police chief, and the head of the local office of the Public Prosecution Service agreed to participate in the experiment. Amsterdam has previously expressed interest in participating in the trial, but this "turned out to be impossible due to the large number (166) of coffee shops in the city," according to the municipality. The city decided not to take part in the regulated marihuana experiment when the plans were first introduced several years ago, because every coffee shop in the city would have to comply. Ten municipalities were selected to participate in the trial with the legal cultivation, purchase, and sale of cannabis. The Cabinet is now preparing to expand the experiment with an eleventh municipality. An amendment to the Closed Coffee Shop Chain Act will make this possible. The municipality said that the scale and population of the city districts make them "suitable" for participation in the experiment. Amsterdam
will soon enter into discussions with the city districts and coffeeshop owners about possible participation. Talks are currently being held with the Ministry of Justice and Security and the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport to work out more details, the city said. The aim of the experiment is to assess how cannabis cafes ("coffee shops") can operate legally and buy the product from official growers. Coffee shops are currently licenced by their local authority, but buy marihuana on the illegal market. The changes currently being discussed in Parliament may mean that the city could take part with a limited number of coffee shops, a spokesman for the mayor told the press. Nevertheless, he said, there is still a long way to go and as yet it is unclear if the city would be able to participate. In addition, coffee shop owners would also have to agree. Health minister Ernst Kuipers commented on Amsterdam’s wish to take part in the program, that it is ‘good news for the weed experiment’. The Dutch government’s plans to experiment with regulated marijuana production and sales have been
beset by numerous problems since they were launched six years ago. The aim of the project is to remove the grey area between licenced cannabis cafes / coffee shops and the illegal growing scene, and to reduce the role of organised crime. The experiment has encountered many difficulties, like the refusal of the big five cities to take part in the trial under the current rules. Amsterdam is the only city in the Netherlands where anyone over the age of 18 can buy marihuana products in a coffee shop. Elsewhere, only local residents can buy marihuana. Mayor Halsema has wanted to change the laws in Amsterdam so that the locals-only rule would apply, but city councillors voted against the plan last year. They were not convinced of the need to close the city’s cannabis cafes to tourists and feared an increase in street dealing. The starting date of the cannabis experiment has already been pushed back several times. Legal cannabis will probably not be sold in the 11 municipalities until 2024. Sources: NL Times, Dutch News