By mr. Kaj Hollemans, KH Legal Advice (@KHLA2014)
Last week was the draft decision on the rules experiment closed coffee shop chain sent to the House of Representatives. The Draft Decree is an elaboration of the bill experiment closed coffee shop chain that was adopted by the House of Representatives on 22 January 2019.
The House of Representatives now has the opportunity to comment on the Draft Decree for weeks during 4, before it is sent to the Advisory Division of the Council of State. Like Member of Parliament Vera Bergkamp (D66) I expect that the House of Representatives will make use of this option and that there will be a separate consultation (AO) with the government on the draft decision. The cover of the draft decision is already on the agenda for the procedure meeting of the VWS committee from the House of Representatives on 24 April 2019.
The Draft Decree contains a few notable changes compared to the consultation version of November 2018. The government has clearly taken into account the input from the various parties on some points.
Limits of the experiment
A maximum of 10 municipalities may participate in the experiment. Border municipalities are all municipalities that lie on the border with Germany or Belgium. Border municipalities that want to participate in the experiment are obliged to use the resident criterion. This means that in the future it will only be permitted to grant access to coffee shops or to sell cannabis to people living in the Netherlands. All coffee shops located in the participating municipalities must participate in the experiment. As a result, municipalities like Venlo, Groningen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Tilburg at least not participate in the experiment. How many municipalities would like to participate in the experiment remains to be seen.
Four phases
The experiment consists of a preparation phase, a transition phase, an implementation phase and a phasing-out phase. The bill is expected to come into effect on January 1 on 2020. At that moment the preparation phase starts. After the law (and the decree) have entered into force, cannabis growers can apply for a permit. To be selected as a grower, a business plan must be submitted. In addition, growers must meet many other conditions. For advice on the application procedure or for an overview of all requirements, you can contact KH Legal Advice.
One of the most striking changes compared to the consultation version is that a given designation only applies to the designated grower and cannot be transferred to another person.
Once the growers have been designated, they can start preparing the cultivation of cannabis. Before the execution of the experiment can be started, the designated growers must have sufficient stock. The preparation phase is expected to take at least one year.
After the preparation phase, a (short) transition phase follows. This transition phase lasts a maximum of 6 weeks and ends as soon as the implementation phase starts. During the transition phase, coffee shops in the participating municipalities may stock and sell tolerated cannabis in addition to legally grown cannabis. This is also a striking change compared to the consultation version. Heard the call from different parties to gradually add the cannabis of the designated growers to the range of coffee shops in the participating municipalities during the experiment. In this way you offer consumers the choice and you offer coffee shops space. A period of 6 weeks is (too) short, but in any case there will be no “clean sweep”.
There is no maximum or minimum for the content of active substances (THC and CBD). However, these levels must be clearly stated on the packaging. Any designated grower can deliver to any participating coffee shop and any participating coffee shop can order from any designated grower.
The implementation phase of the experiment lasts 4 years. The cabinet can extend the implementation phase by eighteen months. After the implementation phase, the phase-out phase begins. During this phase, coffee shops may again stock and sell tolerated cannabis in addition to legally grown cannabis. At the end of the winding down phase, the situation should be as it was before the start of the experiment.
Timeline
This year, a maximum of 10 municipalities will be designated to participate in the experiment. Subsequently, no more than 2020 growers are designated in 10. That process will certainly take half a year. After that, the designated growers can start growing and they can build up a stock. In the summer of 2021 there will be a transition phase of 6 weeks and then the experiment begins. From that moment on, coffee shops in the participating municipalities are only allowed to stock and sell legally grown cannabis. Nothing will change for the other coffee shops and the municipalities in the rest of the Netherlands. In the summer of 2025 it is decided whether the experiment with 1,5 year is extended and the experiment will be phased out by 2027. This means that the current tolerance policy will take effect again, unless a new cabinet decides otherwise.
Law of the inhibiting lead
The added value of the experiment escapes me. As a political compromise it may have been thought out brilliantly, but the question is whether all parties involved, including consumers, municipalities, coffee shops and the agricultural and horticultural sector, are waiting for it. As a result of this experiment, the development of cannabis policy in the Netherlands will come to a standstill in the coming years, while abroad the legalization of cannabis cultivation will continue as normal, with every opportunity for business that entails.
While the international growth market for cannabis offers ample opportunities for Dutch businesses, the government lacks vision and a certain degree of urgency. Too much time and attention is devoted to setting up a completely superfluous experiment that offers no room for innovation in the field of cultivation or product development. This experiment is therefore a textbook example of the law of the inhibiting lead: the phenomenon that a lead in a certain area leads to insufficient incentive to look for further improvement or progress, so that one is sooner or later overtaken.
