1.
The Battle over the Backdoor
Tom Blickman
Session: What Can Be Learned from The Dutch Coffee Shop
System?
The Cannabis Science and Policy Summit
New York City, April 17-18, 2016

2.
The Battle over the Backdoor
• Revolt of the mayors: Toleration: a bankrupt policy (Report Association
of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG). Municipalities ask for a regulated
backdoor and pilot projects
• Disgruntled judges: discomfort among judges about political stalemate
regarding the supply and storage of cannabis
• Public opinion: 70% of the Dutch in favour of regulation
• Draft law proposal of D66 to decriminalize licensed cultivation for
coffee shops
The question: either the Netherlands abolishes the coffee-shop system
or it regulates the backdoor

3.
Coffee-shop policy implemented by municipalities
• Policy modifications in 1996 gave local municipalities the right to decide
whether or not to authorise coffeeshops; they may close down or ban
coffeeshops, even if these do not violate national criteria.
• March 2015: 582 coffee shops tolerated in 103 of 403 municipalities (± 25%)
• Most major towns have a coffeeshop (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague
have 44.5% of coffeeshops)
• Local “triangle” (mayor, chief prosecutor and head of police) are responsible for
implementation, inspection and enforcement; city council determines license
policy within national prosecution guidelines (AHOJGI)
• Extra rules and regulations (mainly: 250 meters distance to schools and/or
playgrounds : ± 85%)
• In non-coffeeshop municipalities 41.2% of the cannabis is bought in a
coffeeshop, while in coffeeshop municipalities the number is 79.5% (2005)

4.
Amount of coffeeshops, municipalities and
municipalities with a coffeeshop
In the mid-1990s there were about 1,500 coffeeshops; in the wake of the 1996 policy change, many
municipalities decided to close down all existing coffeeshops or limit their number.

5.
Revolt of the mayors
• Decentralization of coffee-shop policy leads to growing
disparity between local and national level
• Government still set on disrupting the supply chain to
coffee shops: increased law enforcement against illicit
cultivation, cannabis pass, residence criterion, law
against preparatory acts (growshops)
• Shift from a public health approach to a law
enforcement and security approach; change towards a
more conservative political mood in the Netherlands
against “toleration” and advocating a law-and-order
approach

6.
Revolt of the mayors
Short chronology
• Motion Apostolou (2000): slim majority in the Dutch parliament adopted a motion
to regulate the backdoor, which the government refused to implement.
• EU Council Framework Decision on drug trafficking (2004): Dutch policy on
coffeeshops and the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use is
accepted, but agreement on tackling illicit cultivation of cannabis in Europe
• Manifesto of Maastricht (December 2005): Maastricht mayor and parliamentarians
asks for experiment with regulation of backdoor; dismissed by government and in
Parliament
• Task Force Organized Hemp Cultivation (September 2008): increased law
enforcement against illicit cultivation; public relations campaign against “innocence”
of cannabis
• Cannabis summit (November 2008); 30 mayors call for licensing the growing and
supply of cannabis to coffeeshops

7.
Revolt of the mayors
• Van de Donk committee evaluating Dutch drug policy (July 2009) suggests
limited experiment with regulated supply chain for coffee shops and raise
maximum amount of cannabis a coffee-shop owner can legally have in stock
• Joint Regulation manifesto (December 2013) 25 Dutch local authority areas
increase pressure on national government to allow experiments with
regulated cannabis production (25 local plans to experiment are dismissed
by Government); manifesto is now signed by 60 municipalities
• Motion Oskam (May 2015): Parliament adopted a motion prohibiting local
experiments with a regulated supply chain
• Toleration: a bankrupt policy (Report of Association of Netherlands
Municipalities – VNG – March 2016) asks for a Cannabis Act to allow a
strictly regulated and transparent supply chain for coffeeshops
• In 2014 the Dutch police dismantled 6,000 cannabis cultivation sites of the
estimated 30,000 plantations annually

8.
The End of Toleration
Toleration: a bankrupt policy (Report of Association of Netherlands Municipalities - VNG)
• Report not a blueprint: starting point for debate
• Report extends harm reduction approach to supply
side policies
• Report draws the lessons learned of what went
well and what went wrong with coffeeshop system:
In the long-term halfway regulation (frontdoor-
backdoor) does not work in an environment of a
commercial cannabis market

9.
The End of Toleration
Toleration: a bankrupt policy (Report of Association of Netherlands Municipalities - VNG)
Analysis
• Toleration policy no longer suitable in current circumstances:
involvement of organized crime in production and trade of
cannabis makes toleration policy untenable
• Toleration policy was successful for some time; now an
obstacle to effectively tackling the problems
• Debate reached an impasse between proponents and
opponents of cannabis regulation; various levels of
administration cannot be allowed to become bogged down in
discussions, while organized crime profits and public health
remains insufficiently protected

10.
The End of Toleration
Toleration: a bankrupt policy (Report of Association of Netherlands Municipalities - VNG)
Analysis
• Production of and trade in cannabis is causing considerable
societal and administrative problems
• Concerns about problematic cannabis use and the quality and
composition of cannabis
• Cannabis production and trade have huge undermining effect;
organized crime ‘democratized’; more people participating in
cannabis production (home production, tapping electricity
illegally and fire risks)
• Problems are urgent: if we do nothing, problems will only grow;
threaten to take on unmanageable proportions

11.
The End of Toleration
Toleration: a bankrupt policy (Report of Association of Netherlands Municipalities - VNG)
Proposals
• Toleration policy halted; creating clear position for local government
• Policy focused on limiting the harmful consequences for the user
(health) and society (security)
• Regulation offers best means tackle organized crime
• Bona fide and small-scale points of sale; sanitation of coffee-shop
sector
• Regulation accompanied by solid repressive approach of remaining
organized illegal production and trade
• Limited number of experiments under national supervision to find
best solution

12.
Disgruntled Judges
Discontent with current policies
Courts / 1
Problem: the permitted on-site stock of 500 grams being far exceeded by daily sales;
most coffeeshop have stashes with much more
Judges are increasingly showing their unease in their sentencing, either ruling
inadmissibility or issuing non-punitive sentences.
In July 2014, case dismissed by an Appeal Court: the coffeeshops had co-operated
with the police, the local council and the tax office, which knew and accepted that
the coffeeshops had far more than the permitted amount in stock. The number of
cases in which transgressors were found guilty without imposing penalties
increased from 15 in 2011 to 25 in 2012, and 45 in 2013.

13.
Disgruntled Judges
Discontent with current policies
Courts / 2
Verdict in October 2014 against growers cultivating overtly for specific coffeeshops,
reporting income to tax authorities and paying electricity bills
Court found the growers guilty but no punishment was applied.
"Given that the sale of soft drugs in coffee shops is tolerated, this means that these
coffee shops must supply themselves and so cultivation must be done to satisfy
these demands […] The law does not state how this supply should be done."
Ruling is potentially ground breaking; might open up the back door of the coffeeshops;
Supreme Court will rule on the case in the Fall of 2016.

14.
Disgruntled Judges
The Advocate General with the Dutch Supreme
Court in 2005:
“I am convinced that the future historian
describing our era with regard to our difficult
relationship with cannabis, will marvel at the
costly stubbornness with which we, members of
the judiciary, vex ourselves with an
unenforceable task.”

15.
Public opinion
Discontent with current policies
Opinion poll (June 2015): 70% of the Dutch population is in favour of
regulating cannabis (61% regulation and 9% complete liberalization)

16.
Public Opinion
Main reasons why people prefer a system of
regulated cannabis supply
• Reduces public disorder of illicit cultivation
sites (55%);
• Cannabis cultivation no longer of interest to
criminal organizations (54%);
• Puts an end to the current contradictory policy
(37%)

17.
Arguments MoJ against regulation
• Not allowed according to UN Drug
Control Conventions
Government commissioned report agrees, but
also concluded that coffeeshops are not
allowed
• Most cannabis produced in
Netherlands is exported (80%)
Controversial research to back up that claim;
range of estimated export 53 - 924 tons of
cannabis (Monte Carlo simulation 206 - 549 tons)

18.
Debate
• The Netherlands is “ready” to regulate cultivation
and supply to coffeeshops; depending on national
and international political circumstances
• Political stalemate has blocked decision-making;
growing discontent in society
• Court rulings undermine current policies
• Next Government needs to take decision; draft law
proposal in Parliament cannot be avoided
• Move to regulation outside NL might facilitate
breakthrough; not only the Americas also Europe