The Dutch
coffeeshop policy.
How a pragmatic answer to the heroin epidemic grew into a globally unique system — and how today's coffeeshop is a visible, professional and accountable business.
Where does it come from?
Dutch coffeeshop policy is not a stand-alone choice but a pragmatic answer to an acute public health crisis: the heroin epidemic of the 1970s.
The coffeeshop in 2026
Visible · Professional · Accountable
The modern coffeeshop is not a back room but a regulated public business. From pioneering and informal at the start to a sector with house rules, supervision, product knowledge and intensive contact with its surroundings.
Licensed sales at a fixed location — no anonymous street trade. The operator is known, the rules are clear.
House rules, age checks, product knowledge, staff training and strict compliance with the tolerance criteria.
A clear point of contact for municipality, police and neighbours. Complaints and signals are taken seriously.
Municipalities can set conditions, make agreements and monitor. Policy and practice come together.
"Not murkier, but visibly organised and manageable for government."
The cannabis experiment
Closed Coffeeshop Chain Experiment
For the first time in fifty years of tolerance policy, the entire chain — from cultivation to sale — is being regulated by law. Ten municipalities and their coffeeshops take part in the Closed Coffeeshop Chain Experiment, which entered its ramp-up phase in late 2024 and started nationwide in the participating municipalities in 2025.
What the experiment must demonstrate
- Whether a closed, controlled chain works in practice.
- Whether quality, safety and transparency can be guaranteed.
- The effects on public health, crime and public order.
- What a future structural regulation model could look like.
We follow the experiment closely, translate bottlenecks from practice to the policy table and advocate for a workable next step — for all coffeeshops, not only the participants.