It took years, but today the time has finally come: the sale of the first legally grown state weed in coffee shops in Tilburg and Breda. Weed is sold from three legal growers. The idea of legal weed is to curb the illegal trade.
The regulated cannabis is delivered by secured transport. The cannabis is of good quality and free of pesticides. These shops and growers will gain experience with these new regulations over the next six months. Transport companies and regulators must also consider the effect on the industry and society.
Illegal cannabis
However, coffee shops in Breda and Tilburg are also allowed to continue selling illegally grown weed. Something where the trial previously failed, because eliminating these illegal suppliers would drastically reduce the range of products available. Customers will now have the choice for a number of months. Once this test phase is completed, the test will be further rolled out. 10 growers have been designated to grow legal cannabis, but not all of them are yet ready to supply to a total of eleven different municipalities.
Limited stock
The participating Brabant coffee shops still have concerns about the maximum of 500 grams of weed that they are allowed to have in stock. It would be too little, which would increase transport costs and make legal product not always available to the customer. If the cannabis test is at full speed, the shop may have a trading stock of one week. In the long term, only the sale of legally grown cannabis will be allowed. Coffee shops along the border are only allowed to sell to people living in the Netherlands.
Outgoing Minister Kuipers (Public Health, Welfare and Sport): “It is good that we can start the start-up phase of the closed coffee shop chain experiment. By regulating the sale of cannabis, we have better insight into the origin of the products and the quality.”
Source: Nos.nl (NEITHER)
