How to open your own coffee shop

[ihateourfreedom]

Alright, I know this is a pretty dumb question, but stoner fantasies
aside, what goes into actually opening a coffee shop in the
Netherlands? What does a person have to go through in order to get the
required permission and licenses, and also the supplies themselves?
What sort of regulations exist, especially for foreigners? I'd
appreciate any information that you all could give me

[MrJim]

You really need to be European

[ihateourfreedom]

In that case, tell me the easiest way to become European

[SLICE]

marry one

[Alfa]

Better, become Dutch and then open one up. The thing is though that in The Netherlands there are some towns/ cities where you can still get a licenceto open up one. It is a hasle to go trough, but when you have one......


BTW the Dutch government has just decided it is going to open up Coffeeshop boulevards, near the borders. Now, there's a way to get rich nicely.

[ihateourfreedom]

I thought there was a big problem with that because of all the people
coming over the border with Germany.. what made them change their
minds?



How easy is it to become Dutch? Can I seek political asylum if I'm an American?

[Alfa]

True to a certain extent. The neighbouring area's in Germany and Belgium see that the Dutch way works and quite a lot of them want the same, but their government does not.So, there is a least some agreement between neighbouring area's/counties. Cannabis is sold in coffeeshops and thus attracts a lot of visitors from abroad. Somehow they are seen as drugtourists and the government does not realise that these visitors do not only shop for drugs, but spend money in other stores as well. Therefore the regional governments propose a move of coffeeshops from inside the city to coffeeshop boulevards outside the cities. There will probably be extra coffeeshops allowed, as they can't move all coffeeshops out of the city.


Hey, we Dutchies need some smoke to goddamnit!

[Grautr]

My girlfriend is Dutch and so is my son and I have my verblijfskaard. Where I live now is just off the main road from Maastricht centrum into Belgium. Do I need a certain license then if I want to start a coffee shop?

[Alfa]

Yes, you do. But I highly doubt that you'll get a permit in Maastricht. Might be worth the shot to research the other places in that area. You can forget about Kerkrade.

[big-lester]

i read an article a while ago about the legalisation of marihuana in
the netherlands, and it contained a few opinions of some mayors, and
the mayor of maastricht was one of the mayors that was not so happy
about the legalisation, but i wish you luck, if you do open one let me
know, i'll drop by

[Grautr]

Originally Posted by Alfa

Yes, you do. But I highly doubt that you'll get a
permit in Maastricht. Might be worth the shot to research the
other places in that area. You can forget about
Kerkrade.

*


yes our glorious burgervader, Manveer Leers is not allowing
anymore coffee shops and wants to move those already in the
city out* of the center. Leers has already caused one riot here
with his policies.


I spoke about it with my girlfriend and she said Heerlen or
Vaals might be possible though. She said that one of us would
also need some kind of acounting certificate. I'll look into it a bit
further and see what comes up.Edited by: Grautr

[Alfa]

The major of Maastricht has made a 180 degree turn and has realised that legalisation is the only way to go. He has opened the debate about legalizing growing cannabis, which was followed by the vast majority of the Dutch parlaiment. They voted in favor of legalisation of production of cannabis. The current minister of Justice is not going to allow that, IMO because it does not comply with his religion and he is the leader of church in the Hague. The reasons he has given for this are plain lies, which have all been proven not true. (EU wont allow and such BS)

[Grautr]

Originally Posted by Alfa

The major of Maastricht has made a 180 degree
turn and has realised that legalisation is the only way to go. He
has opened the debate about legalizing growing cannabis,
which was followed by the vast majority of the Dutch
parlaiment. They voted in favor of legalisation of production of
cannabis. The current minister of Justice is not going to allow
that, IMO because it does not comply with his religion and he is
the leader of church in the Hague. The reasons he has given
for this are plain lies, which have all been proven not true. (EU
wont allow and such BS)

Hi Alfa,
assuming the government did begin to grow cannabis do you
think it would stop the illegal grower?

[Boyv]

Originally Posted by Grautr

Hi Alfa,
assuming the government did begin to grow cannabis do you
think it would stop the illegal grower?

Nothing would stop the illegal grower. But if everyone is saying that drugs can be bad when used or made wrong, then why should we hand over this business to criminals?

If it's to provide shops or for own use, the illegal grower will always be there. If the growing of marihuana is government controlled, there will probably be taxes on it, and there should be a quality-ratio. Illegal growers don't have such restrictions and rules, and thus I think they will produce and sell the stuff a bit cheaper.

Though... I doubt who can grow better weed... the specialists of the government or the experienced home growers. I guess it goes a bit equal, since the government has all available resources and manpower, but the home growers have experience, and experience can't be bought with money.

[elbow]

Isn't it possible that some of the illegal growers will just come out into legality, perhaps getting a job with the government?

I'm sure that some of them are qualified under existing systems with degrees in horticulture or lots of experience working in the field.
Of course, paying the taxes will be crap, but maybe some people think its worth paying taxes not to be a criminal who has to always deal with the black market or the possibility of getting penalized or ending up in a dangerous situation. Illegal hemp growing does cause fires occassionally and I'm sure people can get pretty paranoid if they do it too long.

The Netherlands does amazing things with plants (not just cannabis), but also bulbs and house plants. When I lived there my house was totally taken over by house plants because they were so cheap and so strong that they would never die! Imagine what might happen to canabis if the government scientists and the experienced growers put their heads together! Dutch super-skunk will take over the whole world.