Netherlands: Dutch extends trial of legal cannabis to eight new cities

An experiment enabling cannabis smokers in the Netherlands to light up legally has been expanded to eight new cities, as authorities extend a trial that aims to curb criminality and social problems.

A widespread misconception abroad is that cannabis is already legal in the Netherlands - home to the world-famous coffee shops (which sell cannabis) and seen as a huge draw for cannabis smokers.

But in fact, the drug exists in a legal grey area, which authorities seek to stamp out with the experiment that started last year in the cities of Breda and Tilburg and expanded today to eight other towns.The consumption of small quantities of cannabis is technically illegal but police choose not to enforce the law as part of a so-called "tolerance" policy in place since the 1970s.However, the production of cannabis and supply to coffee shops is both illegal and not tolerated, meaning producers and coffee shop owners have to operate in the shadows.