San Francisco Frontiers - Joint plan: Dutch enjoy legal pot trial

"Historic moment," Dutch Health Minister Ernst Kuipers said as he scanned the first box of legal cannabis in the Baron, a coffee shop in the southern city of Breda.

A common misconception abroad is that dope is already legal in the Netherlands -- home to the world-famous coffee shops (which actually sell pot) and seen as a huge draw for cannabis smokers.

But in fact, the drug exists in a legal grey area, which the government hopes to stub out with the four-year trial starting in Breda and nearby Tilburg and expanding to other parts of the country.

The consumption of small quantities of cannabis is technically illegal but police choose not to enforce the law as part of a so-called "tolerance" policy in place since the 1970s.

However, the production of cannabis and supply to coffee shops are both illegal and not tolerated, meaning producers and coffee shop owners have to operate in the shadows.

This has led to gangs getting involved, with a related rise in petty crime and anti-social behaviour local officials hope to stop with the legal pot experiment.

"Criminal organisations took over that criminal market and therefore coffee shop owners were depending on the criminal market, and that had to stop," Breda's mayor, Paul Depla, told AFP.

- 'No oversight' -

Production will be limited to a handful of farms, whose cannabis will be closely monitored before supply to coffee shops.

Consumers are guaranteed a high-quality product, whereas before it was impossible to know where the cannabis came from -- or whether it had been altered.

"The product will be clean, tested, pesticide-free," said Ashwin Matai, "cultivation director" at the Holland High farm that will supply coffee shops legally from February.

"We know exactly what comes in, what comes out so the consumer will get a much safer product," the 34-year-old told AFP, clad in protective equipment.

The first customers seemed satisfied. Juan, a light technician, declared his "Amnesia Core Cut" joint to be "outstanding".

"I am happy because purity controls were always a problem and now we know that it is pure," said Juan, who declined to give his last name.

"Illegal growers were always stressed out. They had to work really quickly and now they have more time."

The level of THC and CBD, the active ingredients of cannabis, will also be measured, so users will know how strong their joint is.

"From a public health perspective, we had no oversight of the process, we could not do any checks on any potential contamination of the products," Kuipers said.

"Now we can do all that."

The Dutch move comes amid a general trend of decriminalising the use of cannabis around the world, with recent moves in Germany, Switzerland and the United States.

During the Dutch experiment, independent researchers will monitor the trial with a view to eventual decriminalisation.

One unknown hanging over this policy -- and indeed all policies -- is the Geert Wilders factor, after the far-right leader won elections last month.

His PVV Freedom Party wants to scrap the "tolerance" policy for good, close coffee shops and push for a "drug-free Netherlands."

They were placed bottom of the parties to vote for in the last election by cannabis-kieswijzer.nl, a website that ranks political parties by their cannabis-friendly policies.

Asked whether the trial could lead to legalising other drugs, Depla was cautious.

"Let's start with the legalisation of cannabis and then we can see what will happen, because I think some people are also afraid it will... lead to more people being addicted," he said,

"I think one thing is for sure. Everybody is glad that we can say farewell to the policy which was hypocritical and not logical."

But not everyone was happy with the trial.

"This is a farce, not my thing," said Auman, 40, outside the Paradise coffee shop in Breda.

"Just legalise it. Everyone should be able to grow and sell weed."

W.Thompson--SFF