The first legal cannabis from Village Farms’ facility in the Netherlands will be available to consumers in the coming weeks, according to local news. 

The products will be available for sale in two weeks, reports the Dutch publication Dagblad van het Noorden. (h/t to MMJ Daily)

The Leli Holland facility, one of just a handful in the Netherlands, is owned by Village Farms, the parent company of BC cannabis producer Pure Sunfarms. It’s approved for cultivation of up to 2,500 kilograms of cannabis a year. Village Farms acquired 85% of Leli Holland in September 2021. In Q3 2024, its ownership increased to 100%.  

Village Farms had previously said they intend to start production in the fourth quarter of 2024, a timeline they have now met. In the short term, they have plans to sell only flower, but over time, they plan to add hash products and pre-rolls.

The Dutch government announced its plans for the project in 2022, which include exploring the possibility of a “closed cannabis chain” for cannabis coffee shops in several cities across the country.

In December 2023, the first cannabis under this program made its way to the first approved coffee shop. Leli Holland plans to build another much larger production facility in Groningen in the northern Netherlands in February. 

The goal of the closed-loop experiment is to explore the possibility of a quality-controlled cannabis production and distribution system in the country as an alternative to the current “tolerance policy,” which has not-legal-but-tolerated “coffee shop” style points of sale and unregulated, illicit growers who supply them. 

“By regulating the sale of cannabis, we have a better insight into the origin of the products and the quality,” Dutch Health Minister Ernst Kuipers said recently. “In addition, we can better inform consumers about the effects and health risks of cannabis use.”

Beginning in April of this year, the Dutch “coffee shops” participating in the “Closed Coffeeshop Chain” experiment will no longer be allowed to source cannabis products outside the regulated supply chain. 

This new phase is planned to last four years. Three more growers are also expected to be ready to supply cannabis products in April. 

In December 2023, regulated cannabis and hash sales began in coffee shops in two Dutch cities, Tilburg and Breda. As of June 2024, all coffee shops in all ten participating municipalities were allowed to sell regulated products alongside products sourced from outside the regulated supply chain. After a year of regulated supply, 70 of the total 75 participating coffee shops sold regulated cannabis and hash.

Cannabis store “coffee shops” are not permitted to: advertise or sell large quantities at a time, sell hard drugs or have them on site, serve or sell alcohol, or admit children under 18. They also must use a track-and-trace system for all products. 

According to the Dutch government, there are approximately 570 such coffee shops in the country, spread across 102 municipalities. Of these, around 75 are participating in the pilot project. 

The ten participating municipalities are Arnhem, Almere, Breda, Groningen, Heerlen, Voorne aan Zee, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Tilburg, and Zaanstad. 

Interestingly, the city where the Leli Holland facility is located, Drachten, has opted out of the pilot project. 

Dagblad van het Noorden recently reported on another of the ten approved cannabis farms in the Netherlands, Q-farms, which will supply coffee shops with hash from its facility Veendam later this year.

Once the nursery is up and running at full capacity from June, Dagblad van het Noorden reports that Q-farms will produce a thousand kilograms of hash and eight thousand kilograms of cannabis, along with a few million pre-rolls, and also hash and weed cookies from its own bakery. 

Featured image of De Baron in Breda, Netherlands

Related Articles

First regulated cannabis makes its way to Dutch coffeeshops in new pilot project

December 15, 2023

Cannabis exports increase for Village Farms in Q3 2024

November 7, 2024

Netherlands to experiment with regulated cannabis supply chain

January 9, 2023