Banned products are not covered by the Dutch Commodities Act, with all the associated risks. The Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation has conceived the idea of creating a system of quality control for cannabis.

As yet, it is unclear what will happen with regard to this plan. The general outline of the Foundation for the Quality Control of Cannabis is as follows:

Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation, August 2002
A short description of the plan to establish a 'Foundation for the Quality Control of Cannabis ('FQCC')'.

1. The object of the Foundation is to regulate the growth of the Dutch-grown cannabis sold in coffee shops, and to increase the share of the controlled cannabis products in the coffee shops as much as possible.

2. To this end, the Foundation will extend a 'FQCC - quality certificate' to coffee shops, or, alternatively, to growers, whose goods meet the standards laid down by the Foundation. These standards refer to:
- the quality of the cannabis products: no pesticides or artificial fertilizers, no cosmetic additions such as hair spray etc., , and
- the growing conditions: growth where allowed by the zoning plan only, no illegal tapping of electricity, no fire hazard or nuisance caused by smells, no suspicion of criminal gangs, no export, etc.

3. The FQCC is a non-profit organization, and has a board comprised of members of the Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation and other respectable citizens. Trade associations are closely involved. Certification is a voluntary matter. The coffee shop that is awarded a certificate, is allowed to publicize the certificate.

4. Examples include the 'chain controls' that are customary for various food products, and, with regard to the circumstances of production, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which awards timber merchants certificates when their timber comes from ecologically and socially responsible forestry.

5. Of course, the growth of cannabis is still an illegal activity. That is why the FQCC should become a foundation that functions on the basis of trust. Once a coffee shop or grower has obtained the certificate, the FQCC could speak to the local mayor to ask him to arrange in his tripartite consultations with the police and the Public Prosecutor that the growers involved would be left undisturbed. Alternatively, the Board of Procurators General could give its consent.

6. Eventually, this may lead to a situation in which the only coffee shops and growers left have a certificate, and this would practically solve the 'back-door problems' as far as Dutch products are concerned. This would leave the share of foreign products, mainly hash. It is to be expected that the 'tolerated' growers would be able to conquer this market sector quite rapidly too. This would complete the decriminalisation of the sector.

7. The difference with our back-door booklet is that the police and the Public Prosecution Service will not have to deal actively and directly with (potential) growers. They will be able to keep their distance, the contacts are handled by the FQCC, which also has a monitoring function.

8. The FQCC and the growers will have to be convinced that the growers will not be disturbed. We propose starting this system as an experiment in a number of medium-sized cities.
Before bringing up the system for discussion in the tripartite consultations, we will find out the views of the Public Prosecution Service on this matter

Raimond Dufour - President of the Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation.