It is no secret that the Netherlands has long been home to one of the most well-established cannabis communities on the planet. For decades, Amsterdam has served as one of the top international cannabis tourism destinations. While cannabis is and has been technically illegal in the Netherlands, personal cannabis activity has been largely tolerated.

In recent years, Amsterdam, and to a lesser extent other parts of the Netherlands, have ceded popularity among cannabis enthusiasts to other jurisdictions as more countries have modernized their cannabis policies to permit personal cannabis activity.

The cannabis reform movement in the Netherlands has a chance to receive a significant boost as the nation’s Dutch House of Representatives elections approach. The election will be held one week from today, on Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Many political parties reportedly hold favorable views towards cannabis legalization heading into the election.

“The editors of the Cannabis Voter Guide examined the election manifestos of 19 political parties for their cannabis-friendliness for the Dutch House of Representatives elections (Wednesday, October 29, 2025). The editors also asked the political parties three questions to clarify their positions in their manifestos.” writes the Foundation Society and Cannabis (translated from Dutch to English).

“Ten parties participating in the Dutch parliamentary elections, ranging from the far left to the far right, want to legalize cannabis. This is evident from the overview of the parties’ positions on cannabis published today by the Association for the Abolition of Cannabis Prohibition (VOC).” the Foundation also wrote. “Strikingly, cannabis legalization isn’t a left-wing or right-wing position, but cuts across party lines.”

As it stands right now, Uruguay, Canada, Malta, Luxembourg, Germany, South Africa, and the Czech Republic have adopted national adult-use cannabis legalization measures. Czechia’s legalization law is set to take effect on January 1st, 2026. Hopefully the upcoming elections in the Netherlands will be favorable and further boost the chances of the Netherlands also expressly adopting national legalization.

The Netherlands officially launched its first pilot trials in Breda and Tilburg back in December 2023, and since that time, the research projects have expanded to Groningen, Zaanstad, Almere, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Voorne aan Zee, Heerlen, and Maastricht. Previous polling found that 60% of residents in the Netherlands support the nation having a regulated cannabis industry.