The Netherlands is known all over the world as the cannabis country of the world. Party animals from every part of the world, as far away as the interior of America and the plains of Africa, come to visit the Netherlands to smoke Dutch weed. Many series also make jokes about the Netherlands related to weed, such as in ‘How I Met Your Mother’.
Why does the Netherlands still have the reputation of a cannabis country? In 1970, the Netherlands was the pioneer of cannabis because they were one of the first Western countries to decriminalize cannabis. Where does the Netherlands stand now?
Weed: what is it and what does it do
The cannabis plant and the consumption of cannabis are as old as stories are. Weed comes from the cannabis plant, on which flowers grow that we call weed. Weed is smoked by first crumbling it and then, optionally with tobacco, putting it in a paper and smoking it. Then you get high. That feeling can be described as a giggly and loving feeling, which for most people takes away their negative thoughts. Cannabis, if used correctly, can therefore have a very therapeutic effect.
Weed in the Netherlands; tolerated
Why has the Netherlands actually become the most popular characteristic cannabis country? That’s because it was one of the first countries to decriminalize cannabis in 1976. In the Netherlands we refer to it as the tolerance policy. According to EU law, selling weed is punishable, but they leave the punishment to the country itself. The Netherlands therefore decides not to punish. They do this to give young people a safe environment; They do not have to buy their weed from a street dealer, which also brings them into contact with other drugs, but they can simply go to a good coffee shop.
Weed in other parts of the world
In the Netherlands, coffee shops are not legal, but you can go to coffee shop Fly Den Haag or Bellamy Rotterdam without any hesitation if you are 18+. There are a number of countries where the commercial sale of cannabis is legal: Uruguay, Canada and Thailand. Recreational use of cannabis is legal in even more countries (at least 8). Why is the Netherlands actually the cannabis country? In theory, Canada, Uruguay and Thailand have taken that title away from us Dutch, but in practice the Netherlands is still one of the most typical cannabis countries. Will that ever change and will cannabis ever become fully legal in the Netherlands? That remains the question.
