Amsterdam’s Little Known Cannabis Secret Might Surprise You…

hough the Netherlands— and particularly the city of
Amsterdam— has long been the mecca of cannabis enthusiasm, one thing that most
people do not know about the country is that cannabis is not exactly legal
there, but merely decriminalized.

So while some states across America are enjoying the new
cannabis freedom that comes with the legalization of recreational use,
Amsterdam’s cannabis situation is a complicated legal mess.

While it may come as a shock to anyone who has travelled to
the beautiful northern European city and felt quite free to buy, smoke and
indulge themselves in everything cannabis related, how that cannabis was produced
and got to the store where they bought it was for lack of better words, totally
illegal. Currently, the greater part of the Netherlands is restricting the ease
of access and taking away the legal framework of decriminalization, even
pushing for laws to hold anyone who helps a grow operation as guilty of a
criminal act. All this is taking place while the mayor of Amsterdam, and a
large part of the city councilmen, are actively trying to ensure that the
long-standing custom of cannabis indulgent coffee shops and overall access to cannabis,
stays the way it has been over the last 40 years. They’re doing so by
authorizing what they’re referring to as “experiments” in cannabis production.

The government members are essentially going to support one
grower in order to improve control and ensure monitoring. The cannabis enthusiastic coffee shops in
Amsterdam supposedly welcome the plan, but express some angst about not being
able to decide who they buy their weed from, and that the uniformity might take
away from the diversity in choice and array of cannabis varieties that they offer.

Regardless of what anyone feels about the matter, the
tempestuous debate has the Minister of Security and Justice up at arms claiming
that cannabis cultivation isn’t allowed under the country’s own laws, as well
as by international treaties, so finding any common ground is still a long way
off. Though, if the mayor and the councilmen have their way, Amsterdam’s coffee
shops might finally be buying their cannabis legally for the first time in Amsterdam
history.