The court has ruled: legal cannabis grower CanAdelaar has one week to comply with additional municipal rules aimed at reducing odor nuisance. After that, the municipality will be allowed to impose penalty payments. The decision, published Wednesday, upholds the municipality's measures, which the grower's lawyer had described as a disguised attempt to shut the company down.
According to an advisory report, CanAdelaar in Hellevoetsluis would need to invest another €35 million in "possible solutions" to eliminate the odor experienced by local residents. The company says it has already been working extensively to address the issue, including installing a range of odor filters.
The Rotterdam District Court ruling is the second in a short time. Just last month, CanAdelaar challenged the municipal requirements. Under those rules, if odor complaints were still registered after September 4, 2025, the grower faced potential penalty payments running into the millions.
Now, CanAdelaar must either stop the odor nuisance, responsible for a wave of neighborhood complaints, through additional measures, or halt production altogether. If the grower were to shut down, this could have implications for the Dutch cannabis trial, according to researcher and cannabis expert Nicole Maalsté, who spoke to NOS. "Only seven growers have started producing. CanAdelaar is a key player. If they drop out, coffeeshops will have to turn back to the illegal market to source product. That would mean the trial has effectively failed."
