The Netherlands expands its program to sell legally grown cannabis to ten cities

June 17 () –

The pilot program started in December in the Netherlands so that stores can sell legally grown cannabis has been expanded this Monday to a total of ten cities, with the beginning of a new “transition phase” that will last, in principle, until mid-September.

The experiment started in Tilburg and Breda, in the south of the country, but now has eight more locations. The Minister of Health, Pia Dijkstra, emphasized in a statement that the “small-scale” analyzes will allow the system to be refined with a view to the “experimental phase”, which will last four years.

The Government wants to control the drugs that reach traditional ‘coffee shops’ to guarantee their health traceability and, at the same time, try to reduce the clandestine market – among the data to be examined during this experiment are issues of public order and security – . The Ministry, however, emphasizes that “cannabis consumption always carries risks.”

However, the measure clashes with the doctrine of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders, the party with the most votes in the last parliamentary elections and a member of the future coalition government. However, Parliament has already rejected any possible veto.