koraks said:

@Jimtown, you're absolutely right, The Netherlands does not have a monopoly on cannabis, and it shouldn't have. I'd very much like to see the country move to a neutral trade balance in this respect. I think it's one of the reasons why the right-wing politicians make this ineffective move, although arguably, they should be happy with the economic returns the business generates.

@Pris: yes, just showing some ID should be sufficient. And as that is already standard practice at many places, the costs of implementing such a scheme would be minimal.

Unfortunately, this legislation takes the discussion away from the area where the real problem is: the production and supply side of the business. There is a need for controlled production, that allows the business to be taxed, safety measures to be imposed on grow ops (no more water damage and fires due to faulty hydroponics and electrics) and quality control to be implemented on the end product. Sadly, the Dutch government only focuses on enforcing drug laws by attacking grow ops, leaving only room in the business for hardened criminals and driving up prices to levels where international criminal organizations are increasingly attracted to the business. All the same, the police admit that more than 95% of the grow ops are never discovered or at least dismantled by the police, suggesting that the effort is only effective in a psychological sense (i.e. only true criminals will run grow ops under this regime, and they have legitimation to drive up prices), while doing essentially nothing to diminish the actual supply or criminality involved in the production. The current policy of the Dutch government and law enforcement is, as Blackadder once put it, "as effective as a cat flap in an elephant house".

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Koraks, i'm glad you joined in the conversation. i know very little about the specifics behind the legislation and i know nothing about the mood "on the street" in the Netherlands.

thanks for your insight