One year on: Dutch regulated cannabis experiment an apparent success; Some fines issued
Tuesday marks exactly one year after coffee shops in ten municipalities participating in the regulated cannabis cultivation experiment started selling the soft drug only if it has been grown legally. The national experiment, which expanded further in September, seems to be a success for many of the stakeholders, Trouw reports, even if the Justice and Security Inspectorate took note of a few dozen infractions by cannabis growers participating in the national experiment. Only four of these led to fines, the highest of which was 20,000 euros, and none of the issues were linked to criminality.
With the “closed coffeeshop chain” experiment, the government is investigating an alternative to the Netherlands’ current tolerance policy. Currently, the sale of cannabis is tolerated, but the cultivation of the soft drug is illegal. The result is that coffeeshops often buy their cannabis from the underworld while authorities look the other way – “through the backdoor,” as it is often referred. In the experiment, coffeeshops in the ten participating municipalities are only allowed to buy from the ten certified growers.
“In the beginning, we had to get used to each other,” Rick Bakker, director of Hollandse Hoogtes, one of the ten certified growers, told Trouw. There was more demand for certain cannabis strains than the producers could handle, and coffeeshops wanted more variety than the growers had. “But by now, things are going very well,” Bakker said. His company is significantly expanding its production.
Even though there were early hiccups, all ten certified growers are operational one year after the start. Their cannabis is consistent in quality, and they offer variety in strains and price. Only hash is still a bit of an issue, as the legally grown stuff tastes different and is more expensive than the tolerated supply from Morocco. But according to Simone van Breda of the Association of Cannabis Retailers, the majority of hash customers have made the switch by now.
Mayor Paul Depla of Breda, one of the participating municipalities, is satisfied. “Customers haven’t walked away. Sales in the shops haven’t decreased. And we aren’t seeing any street dealing emerging either,” he said to Trouw. The fear of the drug becoming normalized also appears to be unfounded, he said. “Hundreds more people aren’t suddenly coming to the coffeeshop. Legalization changed something at the back door, not at the front door.”
Officially, the cannabis experiment will continue for another three years. The other nine municipalities involved include Almere, Arnhem, Groningen, Heerlen, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Tilburg, Voorne aan Zee, and Zaanstad.
The national government plans to evaluate and decide on whether to continue with regulated cannabis cultivation at the end of 2029. Researcher Nicole Maalsté, a specialist in the cannabis sector, really urges against waiting that long. “Politicians view this as an experiment with a beginning and an end,” she told Trouw.
“In a few years, they will evaluate and then decide whether to continue. That is the political reality.” In reality, stopping the experiment would mean that coffeeshops have to go back to their old suppliers, who are no longer there. Growers who have invested millions will have to shut their doors, and customers will again have to get used to another cannabis product. That will only result in chaos and lawsuits, Maalsté said.
Continuing and expanding the experiment will also require a great deal of work. Certified cultivation will have to expand significantly, which can take years. And new legislation could also prove challenging, as shown by the over a decade of political bickering that preceded this experiment. Only a handful of political parties with representation in the two Dutch parliamentary houses opposed the experiment, including the PVV, ChristenUnie, and SGP.
Do not wait until the end of the experiment to make a decision, Breda mayor Depla also said. “If we want to get rid of the hypocritical tolerance policy throughout the Netherlands in four years, we must act quickly.”
The experiment itself was broken down into phases, with legal cannabis cultivation starting from 2022. They were allowed to operate with amnesty during a three-year transition period. The Justice and Security Inspectorate started issuing warnings and citations from 2025 during compliance checks on authorized cannabis growers.
“Most violations involved incorrect entries in the registration system and failure to comply with security regulations,” the Inspectorate said. During 46 different inspections last year, a total of 42 violations were uncovered, the office stated on Tuesday. A total of four fines were actually demanded, ranging from 1,000 to 20,000 euros. An Inspectorate spokesperson told ANP that the issues go beyond simple human error, but also have shown no signs that the legal participants are tied up with the criminal underworld.
Every plant is given a unique code so they can be traced from supplier to coffeeshop, while the farming operations must meet security requirements, like fencing and restricted access. “The Inspectorate supervises the cannabis experiment in which coffeeshops in ten participating municipalities sell only legally produced hemp and hashish products, and ten growers cultivate only legal cannabis,” the Inspectorate stated.
These checks prompted the inspectorate to issue four fines for issues that existed for an extended period and which were not rectified on time, four threats of a fine for errors should they not be addressed, and four more letters stating an intention to issue a fine. Further, the office issued six informal warnings and 13 formal warnings, while meeting face-to-face with one cannabis grower who was told they were getting another chance to comply with Dutch law.
While the Inspectorate also looks in on coffeeshops in the ten municipalities involved in the experiment, the mayors of those cities are responsible for deciding if the operation violated rules, and whether they should be punished. The Inspectorate carried out eight inspections in 2023, and ramped up to 145 in 2024, followed by 376 in 2024. So far this year, a total of 56 inspections have taken place at the coffeeshops.
