As it is widely known for many years the Netherlands had a policy of tolerance towards soft drug use. This is not a laissez-faire policy, however, since the sales of cannabis and hashish to the public in so called coffeeshops is strictly regulated.
A common misconception is that soft drugs have been legalised in Holland whereas in fact cultivation and possession remain a criminal offence. Personal use is tolerated, however, and there are many coffee shops where smoking joints on the premises is allowed.
The actual conservative Dutch government decided to start seriously restricting the policy by introducing new measures that have to turn coffee shops into private clubs where only Dutch citizens can purchase soft drugs.
Besides this also the rule about the distance between a coffee shop and a school are changed from 250 to 350 meters and cannabis with more than 15% THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis) will be regarded as hard drugs and will be forbidden.
A crew from the Scottish BBC program Eòrpa comes to the Netherlands to produce a background reportage about the stricter soft drugs policy. They talk to coffeeshop owners, a specialised lawyer, an activist that is against the stricter cannabis policy and an MP form the liberal party that is in favour, and to locals that are afraid that annoyance in the streets will rise due to the chance that sales of soft drugs will end up in the street again. Will it this be the end of the successful Dutch soft drugs policy?
For this background reportage Featurez gave advice, did the research, set-up and planning of the filming, booked a rental van, did the driving, accompanied the filming, did the interviews and translations.