The Netherlands does not technically legalize cannabis — it tolerates it under the long-standing gedoogbeleid (tolerance policy). Licensed coffee shops may sell small amounts to adults without prosecution, a framework that has operated in Amsterdam and other Dutch cities since the 1970s.
A coffee shop may sell up to 5 grams per person per visit and hold limited stock on the premises. Shops are licensed at the municipal level, so rules on location, opening hours, and outdoor consumption vary city to city — Amsterdam, for example, now restricts street smoking in the Red Light District.
Cultivation and wholesale supply remain in a legal grey area (the so-called 'back-door problem'), which the government has been piloting reforms to address. Medicinal cannabis is separately available by prescription through pharmacies.