Cannabis — Netherlands

Coffeeshops may sell cannabis only under tolerated conditions: no sales to or entry for under-18s, no advertising, no hard drugs, no nuisance, no more than 5 grams per transaction and no more than 500 grams of stock. A transaction means everything one buyer purchases in one coffeeshop on the same day, so you cannot buy 5 grams several times over in the same shop. A national residence criterion also applies on paper, but each municipality decides whether to enforce it: Maastricht, Venlo, Breda and Heerlen turn non-residents away, while Amsterdam does not enforce it, so foreign visitors can still buy in Amsterdam coffeeshops.

Buying outside the tolerated conditions is a prosecutable criminal offence, and a coffeeshop that breaks the conditions can be ordered closed. In the ten municipalities of the regulated-supply experiment, coffeeshops may sell only cannabis from designated growers, and in Breda, Heerlen and Maastricht they may admit only people who live in the Netherlands.

Verified Aug 29, 2026

Cannabis is illegal in the Netherlands, but the Public Prosecution Service publishes a tolerance: possession of up to 5 grams for personal use is in principle not investigated or prosecuted. That is a prosecution policy, not a legal exemption, so police can still seize what you are carrying. Between 5 and 30 grams there is a criminal response, and above 30 grams the serious offence applies. Cannabis extracts are not covered at all: hash oil, vape cartridges and THC concentrates are List I hard drugs in the Netherlands, in the same schedule as cocaine.

Possession of up to 30 grams of cannabis or hashish is the minor offence in article 11(1) of the Opium Act, carrying up to one month of detention or a second-category fine. The prosecution service sentencing guideline sets a 75 euro fine for 6 to 30 grams, 200 euros for 30 to 100 grams, 400 euros for 100 to 300 grams and 750 euros for 300 to 500 grams. Above 30 grams the deliberate-possession offence in article 11(2) applies, carrying up to two years of imprisonment or a fifth-category fine. Extracts such as hash oil sit on List I and are punished as hard drugs. Growing five plants or fewer is normally treated as non-commercial, but cultivation for financial gain is treated as commercial regardless of the number of plants.

Verified Aug 29, 2026

The Dutch Opium Act does not make using cannabis an offence, so whether you may smoke it in the street depends entirely on the city. Amsterdam bans it outdoors only inside the mapped red-light district zone, and coffeeshops and their terraces are expressly exempt. Rotterdam bans public cannabis use across the whole city. The Hague bans it in designated areas and within 50 metres of schools and playgrounds. Utrecht has no cannabis ban. Outside a designated zone there is no national rule against smoking in public.

Where a municipal ban applies, breaking it is an offence under the local ordinance, punishable by up to three months of detention or a second-category fine. Amsterdam does not publish a fixed on-the-spot amount for cannabis on its own pages; its English guidance says fines for nuisance range from 100 to 650 euros.

Verified Aug 29, 2026