The Dutch Inspectorate of Justice and Security (Inspectie JenV) conducted 46 inspections of cannabis growers last year, identifying 42 violations. Most violations involved incorrect entries in the registration system and failure to comply with security regulations. For these violations, the Inspectie JenV collected, among other things, four orders subject to a penalty payment, ranging in amount from one thousand euros to twenty thousand euros. The inspectorate supervises the cannabis experiment in which coffeeshops in ten participating municipalities sell only legally produced hemp and hashish products, and ten growers cultivate only legal cannabis.
The cannabis experiment has now been in the phase for a year in which coffeeshops in the ten participating municipalities are only allowed to sell legal cannabis. Participating growers have been cultivating legal cannabis since 2022. The cannabis experiment aims to clarify whether and how the ten growers can supply legally produced hemp or hashish to coffeeshops and whether participating coffeeshops sell exclusively legally produced products.
© Inspectorate of Justice and Security
The Inspectorate of Justice and Security checks whether growers comply with the requirements of the EGC Act, such as the registration of their hemp (products) and the security of the cultivation sites. This is intended to keep the chain closed; legally grown cannabis may only be supplied to participating coffeeshops. The Inspectorate also checks whether coffeeshop owners sell only legal cannabis. In this experiment, the Inspectorate of Justice and Security collaborates with other parties, such as the municipalities participating in the trial.
The trial has been in the experimental phase since April 7 of last year . During this phase, the Inspectorate checks, through announced and unannounced visits, whether growers produce, record, and transport their cannabis in accordance with the law. The Inspectorate of Justice and Security has been supervising the growers since the day they started operations; the first grower began in 2022. By the end of 2023, the first three growers were able to supply cannabis to coffeeshops, but the quantity was still too limited. Subsequently, on December 15, 2023, the first coffeeshops in Tilburg and Breda began selling legal cannabis combined with illegal cannabis. More growers followed later. In June 2024, the other eight municipalities joined the transition phase of the experiment: the sales combination of legal and illegal cannabis. Since April of last year, coffeeshops in the participating municipalities have only been allowed to sell cannabis from legal growers.
The Inspectorate considered the period up to 2025 as a transitional period. From January 2025, it will impose sanctions. For the 42 violations observed by growers to date by the Inspectorate of Justice and Security (JenV), it has imposed 32 sanctions. These consisted of 6 informal warnings, 13 formal warnings, 4 notices of intent to impose a penalty payment, 4 penalty payments (an amount to be paid if the grower does not rectify an error), 4 forfeitures (penalty payments that growers had to pay because they did not rectify errors), and 1 meeting in which the grower was informed that they must comply with the law. A warning can be issued for a number of violations simultaneously.
Coffeeshops
The Inspectorate of Justice and Security (Inspectie JenV) also inspects coffeeshops in the participating municipalities. It has been doing so since late 2023, as the sale of legal cannabis had already started in Tilburg and Breda by then. In 2023, it conducted 8 inspections. In 2024, there were 145, as the other municipalities joined in at that time. In 2025, there were 375, and in 2026, 56 inspections so far. A report is drawn up for each inspection and sent to the municipality. The mayor then determines whether a violation has occurred and whether a sanction will follow. These decisions do not rest with the Inspectorate of Justice and Security.
