Project C, a Dutch cannabis project that wants to participate in the government experiment Gesloten Coffeeshopketen, has received a negative response from the municipality of Drimmelen while searching for a greenhouse to start growing cannabis legally. "We do not want to be known as a municipality where cannabis is grown," says mayor Gert de Kok decisively to BN De Stem, a local news website.
The initiators behind Project C are looking at a three-hectare greenhouse complex in the municipality to legally grow cannabis.
No nuisance, but opportunities
After the hurdle of a 'bank account' was jumped in early November, a new hurdle is now looming. It is not inconceivable that other municipalities will also answer with a 'no' to the request of the men from Project C. There would then be a Not In My Backyard effect, whereby one would like to make use of facilities (in this case legal weed in the context of the government experiment), but does not want to be bothered by related activities in their own backyard.
Peter Schouten, co-initiator of the project, is not afraid of that, as he told De Stem. He points to Canada where there are no problems and calls it ‘getting cold feet’. Moreover, he emphasizes that it offers opportunities for local employment and that cultivation "has nothing to do with crime."
Replacement greenhouse complex
Project C has the opportunity to find a suitable greenhouse until 1 July 2020. Possibly still in Drimmelen, according to Schouten, the complex there is 'perfect', and otherwise somewhere else.