The study conducted by the Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation called 'Coffee shops out of the shadows', as well as the subsequent activities of several cities and the lobby of 20 (and later even 60) mayors organized by the Foundation, asking the government for permission to regulate the 'backdoor' to the coffee shops, that is the cultivation of cannabis for the supply to coffee shops, resulted in two motions that were carried by a majority of the Dutch Lower House of Parliament. The most far-reaching motion was the Apostolou motion, instructing the government with a majority of one to regulate the 'backdoor practice'. The government refused to honour this motion, claiming that 'other countries' already had major objections to our coffee shops. It did, however, honour the Nicolai motion, urging the government to aim to increase foreign support for the Dutch policy.
At the initiative of the Foundation and several parliamentary parties, a meeting on cannabis policies was called in the Dutch Parliament on 30 November 2001 for the members of parliament of several European countries and the European Parliament.
Together with the Belgian, German, Swiss and French governments, the Dutch government organized two conferences on the subject of cannabis. The first was a conference for European cities and took place in Utrecht (the Netherlands) on 6/7/8 December 2001. Delegates of the Foundation introduced a motion in favour of regulating and of amending UN conventions in the policy-making working group; the motion was carried by a large majority.
The second was a meeting of the Ministers of Health from the 5 countries mentioned above, and was held in Brussels on 25 February 2002. An official steering group from these 5 countries is currently preparing a follow-up programme to these conferences on cannabis.