Belgium: Personal use acceptable – but no coffee shops as yet
Belgium’s parliament has voted to legalise the personal use of cannabis – but has stopped short of legalising its sale and says it will not allow Dutch-style “coffee shops” selling the drug.
After more than two years of debate, the new ruling will allow people to possess small quantities of the drug and consume it legally – as long as they do not disturb the peace through their actions.
Whether this means people will be allowed to smoke cannabis in public parks, for example, is a moot point – this could, in theory, disturb the peace if someone complained to police. Users will legally be allowed to carry five grammes of the drug.
Several weeks ago, News From Abroad reported that Belgium is experiencing sweeping social changes, led by politicians, in an effort to make the country “more trendy”, following a report in The Observer that “dull Belgium wants to be as hip as Holland”.
At the time, a spokesman for the Belgian magazine Che said: “Belgium has an image as a very small, very dull country where nothing happens apart from EU summits. But maybe people will start to notice that it has much, if not more to offer than other European countries.”
