The momentum for adult-use cannabis reform on the continent is stronger than ever, as evidenced by a legalization measure passed this month by Maltese lawmakers.

Malta’s president recently signed a measure to legalize marijuana Maltese Adult Use For possession, cultivation and consumption.

Unfortunately, the measure does not include legal sales, although the public policy change does provide a degree of additional access to nonprofit marijuana clubs.

The Netherlands has long been touted as the “cannabis capital of Europe,” and although the ship has sailed and the country will never be the first to legalize in Europe, limited forms of legalization continue to move forward in the Netherlands.

Dutch pilot program

Legislators and regulators in the Netherlands previously set up an adult-use cannabis pilot program, in which certain jurisdictions will allow legal commercial cannabis production and sale to adults.

The goal of the pilot program is to allow a limited rollout of the regulated adult-use industry so that lawmakers and regulators can study any potential impacts and better shape national policies and regulations.

The Netherlands is not alone in implementing such schemes. A similar pilot project is underway in Switzerland.

At the end of 2020, the Netherlands granted 10 licenses to entities with the aim of allowing them to grow commercial cannabis for supply to the adult-use market.

The Dutch government recently Announce Another “big city” will be included in the pilot program, but no specific city is mentioned in the announcement.

That being said, seeing the pilot program expand is a good sign, as it provides a level of evidence that the experiment is working.

A progressive approach to legalization?

Cannabis has long been “tolerated” in the Netherlands, where it has been regularly bought and sold in the country, especially Amsterdam’s world-renowned cannabis cafes, over the years.

With the European country having such a rich history of cannabis and a thriving unregulated market, implementing a regulated adult-use industry in the Netherlands is no easy task.

The pilot program approach offers an incremental strategy that works well to accelerate the country’s development. After all, if you live in a city participating in the pilot program, cannabis is already legal in the Netherlands.

If the Netherlands continues to expand the pilot program, it will eventually become a national program and basically the cannabis ban will end.

Since a regulated framework is already in place in this case, it is only necessary to formally announce the legalization in the Netherlands, which may be a more efficient way of legalizing nationwide, rather than waiting for lawmakers to formulate any All the details before things can proceed.