Strange how it was known as the place where you could smoke or buy weed at coffee shops for years before the US was anywhere close and it’s still not legal there. I suppose it’s still not federally legal in the US either though.
this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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And it took them only 40 years. So fast.
The Netherlands is far less progressive than people think it is. Tolerating something is not the same as condoning or accepting it.
No one who knows the Netherlands was surprised by Wilders winning a lot of votes in the last election. No one who knows the Netherlands is surprised that it's taken this long to even think about legalising weed.
Yup. There’s a reason it’s called “gedoogbeleid” and not “acceptatiebeleid”!
Still not enough. We need the exact same regulation as in California or Nevada in Europe/World wide.
I’d like to purchase edibles and vapes legally as if I was in Las Vegas.
Naw, I want real legalization like in Canada (BC in particular). Flying domestically with cannabis is a legally protected right in Canada. And public consumption is permitted anywhere tobacco use is. None of this 'in the privacy of your own home' bullshit that makes it impossible for tourists to technically consume legally.
Maybe in time Las Vegas will have a well labelled designated cannabis smoking area right at the airport terminal like they have in Vancouver. And like, come on, it's Vegas...of all the places that should be able to pull something like that off in the USA, you'd think it would be Vegas.
And public consumption is permitted anywhere tobacco use is
This is so important. I live in WA state USA. You can't legally smoke cannabis outside. It continues to make cannabis consumption illegal for many people.
I completely agree with you. However in Europe both existing and planned regulations that I am aware of are far away from that. You won’t find a dispensary offering similar selections like in the US anywhere, not even in Amsterdam. The overdue regulation update mentioned in the post won’t change that unfortunately.
Just to make things clear, it breaks down like this - it's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it, and if you're the proprietor of a hash bar, it's legal to sell it.
Horrible plan. Just open up the law for home grown stuff with some clear boundaries
Why not legalize trade fully and cash in on those sweet sweet taxes?
Same reason Germany is failing to do so right now. EU laws and even some UN treaties that need to be circumvented in creative way as they don't actually allow legalisation.
The un treaties should not be a Problem. Germany could Just ignore them Like canada or leave the treaties and rejoin with a excemption for cannabis. Bolivia did this for Coca leaves.
Do you treat your own contracts the same way? Sign them and then act as if you didn't? What if other people treat you like that? Sell you a car, grab the money and leave taking the car with them?
Somebody has to start.
Home-grown was already possible. What do you see as the problem with this plan?
Possible in practical terms, but not legal
It is against the law to grow marijuana and cannabis plants. In cases where no more than 5 plants are grown for personal consumption, the police will generally only seize the plants. If more than 5 plants are found, the Public Prosecution Service will prosecute.
https://www.government.nl/topics/drugs/toleration-policy-regarding-soft-drugs-and-coffee-shops
Basically if you have 5 or less plants the cops will probably ignore you unless you're a dickhead or are annoying neighbors or something like that.
Yeah I mean, that's the thing with marijuana legislation in the Netherlands in general - it's not legal in the first place. It would, of course, be preferable if it was actually legal (and this might very well be a step on the road to get there), but yes, in practical terms, there's not too much impact - whereas this plan addresses an actual problem, i.e. criminality involved with the drug supply of coffee shops.
Yeah my big issues with it are that it funds a lot of gangster bullshit in the country, there's a lot of tax money that could be benefiting the Netherlands that they're not getting, and there's no real control on testing for pesticides and mold.
The models employed in the US aren't flawless and a lot of the laws are written by idiots, but there's a ton of tax money going towards stuff like education in legal states and the requirements for testing for harmful substances are pretty major.
The state of Colorado alone generated something like $280 million in tax revenue last year of which a great deal goes to education and health care.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“Historic moment,” said the health minister, Ernst Kuipers, on Friday as he scanned the first box of legal cannabis in the Baron coffee shop in the southern city of Breda.
In fact, the drug exists in a legal grey area, which the government hopes to stub out with the four-year trial starting in Breda and nearby Tilburg.
The consumption of small quantities of cannabis is illegal but police choose not to enforce the law as part of a “tolerance” policy that has been in place since the 1970s.
This has led to gang involvement, with a related rise in petty crime and antisocial behaviour that officials hope to stop if the trial is successful.
“The product will be clean, tested, pesticide-free,” said Ashwin Matai, the cultivation director at Holland High farm, which will supply coffee shops legally from February.
One unknown surrounding the planned policy is the Geert Wilders factor, whose far-right Party for Freedom won 37 seats in the general election last month.
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