Experiment for legal cultivation and sale of marijuana

The experiment was initiated by the rijksoverheid to answer the question "whether the current cannabis tolerance policy can be organized differently. For participation in the experiment, the city council of the former municipality of Hellevoetsluis named a number of starting points.

By requiring coffee shops within the experiment to purchase from legal growers, criminal growers are cut off the pass. If a good alternative exists, the earning model of criminal cultivation is largely eliminated. In addition, the municipality hopes this will prevent potentially (fire) dangerous situations associated with illegal cultivation.

By making cannabis cultivation legal, there will be more oversight of the substances contained in cannabis. The use of cannabis naturally carries health risks. Monitoring for the absence of pesticide and sometimes even heavy metals, may reduce some of these. Within the experiment, we are also looking at the THC content in the cannabis. This is the active ingredient in the product.

The rijksoverheid also considers it important to make people aware of the health risks of using cannabis. A number of rules have been established for this purpose. These include warning messages on cannabis packaging and coffee shop employees are trained to provide information.

Since June 17, 2024, the two coffee shops in Voorne aan Zee, the Barbershop and John & Co, have been allowed to sell regulated cannabis. On that day, transition phase of the Experiment Closed Coffeeshop Chain started. A total of ten experimental municipalities and ten growers have been designated by the State. The growers have been given permission to grow the supply for the coffee shops in the experiment municipalities. In the municipality of Voorne aan Zee two cultivation sites have been designated, one of which is operational at the time of the start of the transition phase. 

In December 2023, ahead of the other eight municipalities, the coffee shops in the municipalities of Breda and Tilburg have already started selling regulated cannabis. In this way, the first experiences with the distribution of the product were gained. The transition phase started on June 17, 2024. This means that since June 17, coffee shops in the remaining eight municipalities have also been allowed to sell regulated cannabis. They may decide during this transition phase when to start these sales. During this period, coffee shops are also still allowed to sell their old offerings (tolerated products). The transition phase is the period in which coffee shops are allowed to sell out their existing stock and start selling regulated cannabis. The purpose of the transition phase is to allow coffee shop owners to gradually transition to the new supply and for consumers to get used to the new supply. The next phase, the experimental phase, will start no sooner than six weeks after the announcement of the start date of the experimental phase, so that growers, coffee shop owners, municipalities and supervisors have sufficient time to prepare for it.

Since the opening of the Vierpolders cultivation site in the fall of 2023, there have been reports of odor nuisance. Information on this case can be found on DCMR's website.