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NL: Call to legalise commercial cannabis crops

Expatica

Monday 14 Mar 2005

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AMSTERDAM - Maastricht Mayor Gerd Leers has called for the toleration of
soft drugs in the Netherlands to be extended to the production and supply
of cannabis in a bid to reduce crime.

Presently, both possession and the sale of cannabis at so-called "coffee
shops" is tolerated, but the production of marijuana and the supply to
coffee shops is banned.

Leers said the ban on the cultivation and supply of cannabis leads to
criminality, news agency ANP reported on Sunday. Small-scale cannabis
cultivation for private use is already tolerated.

Tolerating commercial production would decriminalise the industry and
police resources would therefore be freed up for other tasks, he said.

But Leers also warned that extended toleration should be accompanied by
greater inspections on the amount and quality of the drugs.

Leers said drugs cannot be eliminated and should therefore be legalised and
controlled. But he said legalisation could only occur in a European context.

Opening up of the cannabis market could thus only occur if Maastricht's
neighbouring councils in Belgium and Germany also co-operated. This would
give a definite signal to The Hague and Brussels.

Leers comments come in the lead-up to a cannabis conference in Maastricht
in April, to be attended by the southern Dutch city's neighbouring
councils. Drug tourists often cross the border to avail of the Dutch coffee
shop policy.

And Leers' proposal is in contrast to his hard-line stance against trailer
parks. These parks often operate as "free states" where people can live
almost tax free and are frequently the site of cannabis plantations.

He also said during a visit to the US last month with other politicians and
city mayors that the Netherlands was no longer the land where everything is
allowed.

Leers said tolerance is okay, but only works within well defined parameters
that must be carefully guarded.

Asserting that the Netherlands was getting tougher, Leers said it was never
too late to clean up your own rubbish. He said the US needed to know the
Dutch were no "softies" when it comes to drugs.

 

 

 

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