From head start to lagger

How the lack of Dutch jurisdiction is killing a flowering industry

Oh the nineties, those were the days. Many readers now envision great music, the rising of the internet or Pamela Anderson in her fullest glory. But there is more to this great decade. Especially if you focus on the Dutch hemp scene. It was the time when Sensi seeds developed the biggest seed bank for psychoactive hemp, when Hoodlamb established itself as the leading brand in hemp clothing and when Hemplflax was founded. Hemp in Holland was new, exciting and winning.

Sensi seeds a prime example of Dutch entrepreneurship 

Industrial hemp flourished in those days because the rules for its psychoactive nephew were among the most progressive worldwide. Hemp entrepreneurs entering the scene as growers or coffee shop owners realized that there was much more to the plant than a pleasant high. They started being interested in industrial hemp as well. The best example of this development is Ben Dronkers. While travelling a young Dronkers came in touch with cannabis and decided to build a career and a company around the plant. His Sensi seeds developed quickly in the to go seed provider in Amsterdam and is now the leading bank for hemp seeds worldwide.

For Dronkers the seed bank was only the startup of a bigger hemp emporium. In 1994 he was involved in the founding of Hempflax. A farming company that grows industrial hemp and makes a variety of hemp products. Recently this company from Oude Pekela in Groningen acquired about 700 ha. of ground in Romania and expanded it’s business to this part of Europe making Dronker Holland’s internationally renowned hemperor.

In this climate of entrepreneurship also Hemp Works and Hoodlamb were founded. The former an Amsterdam based shop specializing in hemp products the latter a clothing label that was founded to put industrial hemp and sustainable fashion on the map. Hempflax, Hoodlamd and Hemp Works; three companies with proven success that fit right in the sustainability ambitions of European governments these days.

Fast forward to 2015. Hemp Works closed it’s shop. According to there website founder Adam Dunn ‘settled in Denver, Colorado promoting all things hemp with his creative space and showroom.’ From this city Dunn started the Free George campaign. A campaign named after George Washington probably the greatest man who ever lived in the USA. His original occupation? Hemp farmer. And Dunn is having success. The recent wave of legalization that is sweeping America isn't just good for smoked cannabis. It also helps re-establishing industrial hemp as one of the important crops within American farming.

And what about Holland? Does the country profit from the head start it had during the nineties? The answer is no or at least not enough. With the bold decision to legalize every aspect of hemp farming Colorado made itself the center of a big investment wave. Funds operating within the hemp industry are widely available. Legal marijuana is the fastest growing part of the American economy. Legal marijuana is providing profits and jobs and Holland is losing its founding fathers of the hemp industry to Colorado.

The Dutch development is completely based on legislation. But funny enough it doesn't have to do with Dutch law but rather with a lack of it. The marijuana business in Holland has never been completely legal. Yes coffee shops can sell weed to their customers but how it gets to the shop has never been arranged by law. And with a minister of justice who claims that he ‘knew people that died of smoking marijuana or hashish’ new legislation is further away then ever.

So while the USA is making a quick change towards legal marijuana – after Colorado states like Washington, Oregon and soon probably California made the shift towards legal marijuana as well - Holland is sitting still. The country’s head start is wasted while the lack of laws work in favor of criminals. Many cities in the Netherlands are open towards experiments with legal marijuana growing but the national government effectively kills of every initiative. This catch 22 will probably stand till lobbyist from Monsanto and Philip Morris urge on changing European laws. By that time legal marijuana is well beyond its start up face and all the profit will run up the corporate ladder straight into the pockets of American companies.