The push for cannabis reform in adult consumption on the European continent is stronger than ever, as demonstrated by Maltese lawmakers who passed a legalization measure this month.
The President of Malta has recently signed a measure legalizing cannabis adult use in Malta for possession, cultivation, and consumption.
Unfortunately, the measure does not include legalized sales, although the change in public policy allows nonprofit cannabis clubs to provide some additional level of access.
The Netherlands has long been considered Europe’s “cannabis capital” and although the nation will never be the first to legalize itself in Europe now that the ship has sailed, limited legalization continues to advance. in the Netherlands.
Pilot program of the Netherlands
Legislators and regulators in the Netherlands have previously established an adult cannabis pilot program in which certain jurisdictions will allow the legal production and sale of legalized cannabis to adults.
The aim of the pilot program is to allow the limited deployment of a regulated adult use industry so that legislators and regulators can study any potential effects and better adapt them to the development of national policies and regulations.
The Netherlands is not the only one to implement this program. Switzerland is also running a similar pilot program.
At the end of 2020, the Netherlands granted 10 licenses to entities with the aim of allowing them to grow commercial cannabis to supply it to the adult use market.
The government of the Netherlands recently announced that another “big city” will be added to the pilot program, however, the specific city was not named in the announcement.
That said, it’s a good sign that the pilot program is expanding, as it provides some level of proof that the experiment works.
An incremental approach to legalization?
Cannabis has long been “tolerated” in the Netherlands, and cannabis has been bought and sold regularly in world-famous cannabis coffee shops for many years in the country, especially in Amsterdam.
Due to the rich history of cannabis and a thriving unregulated market in Europe, implementing a regulated adult use industry in the Netherlands is no easy task.
The approach of the pilot program envisages an incremental strategy that could speed things up very well in the country. After all, if you live in a city that is part of the pilot program, cannabis is already legal in the Netherlands.
If the Netherlands continues to expand the pilot program, it will eventually become a national program and, essentially, the cannabis ban will end.
Since there will already be a regulated framework in this scenario, all that will be needed is a formal announcement that legalization is being implemented in the Netherlands, and this could be a much more efficient way to legalize the whole country instead of waiting for lawmakers. solve it. all the details before anything can continue.
