The country’s first cannabis club challenged by government
Utrecht has become the first Dutch city to set up a cannabis growers’ club for recreational use. The Social Cannabis Club Domstad has been officially registered so that a small group of approved growers can cultivate marijuana under the supervision of the local authority.
The municipal council has asked the Ministry of Justice to give the club an exemption from the opium law, similar to those granted to producers of medicinal cannabis, but justice minister Ivo Opstelten has said he is opposed to local councils authorising the cultivation of cannabis and threatened to take action against Utrecht if it goes ahead with the plan.
It remains odd that marijuana is still illegal, but that licensed coffeeshops are allowed to sell small quantities on their premises under strict conditions. The thing is, their supply isn’t regulated and is still criminal, but this would finally be an attempt at knowing where the pot actually comes from for a change. This don’t ask, don’t tell policy is what keeps this entire pot business a shady one.
(Links: www.amsterdamherald.com, www.destadutrecht.nl,
Photo by Eric Caballero, some rights reserved)
[…] The court of Groningen handed down a ‘historical verdict’ last Thursday by refusing to punish two cannabis growers who ‘safely and responsibly’ carry out their work, only selling to coffee shops and even paying taxes. While the court found the growers guilty of cultivating weed, it refused to punish them for doing so, underlying the Dutch hypocrisy of punishing ‘the back door’ while turning a blind a to selling through ‘the front door’. Weed sold in coffee shops is ‘tolerated’ and not legal, but continues to be supplied illegally, which is often challenged. […]