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Where you may and may not smoke cannabis in the Netherlands

There is no national ban on using cannabis in public — and no national permission either. Every municipality decides for itself, which is why the answer changes when you cross a city boundary and sometimes when you cross a street.

Last reviewed: Sources checked the same day and listed at the foot of the page.

The short answer

It is a municipal question, not a national one. Dutch national law contains neither a general ban on cannabis use in public nor a general permission. Restrictions come from each municipality's by-law — the Algemene Plaatselijke Verordening, or APV — so two neighbouring towns can take opposite positions, and one city can prohibit it in the centre and not in the suburbs.

Amsterdam is the case that can be stated precisely. Since 25 May 2023 a by-law prohibits using cannabis in the street, and in any other publicly accessible place, across a designated part of the old centre: the Wallen together with the Dam, Damrak and Nieuwmarkt. The fine is €100, issued after an initial warning is ignored. Coffeeshop terraces are excluded. The ban applies to residents exactly as it applies to visitors.

Everywhere else, use the safe default: not on the street in a busy city centre, not near a school or a station, not in a park where families are sitting. Zone boundaries are marked with municipal signage that is frequently Dutch-only and easy to walk straight past.

Why there is no national answer

Public space in the Netherlands is regulated locally. Each municipal council adopts an APV covering the ordinary business of a town — noise, waste, markets, alcohol in the street — and, in many municipalities, use of drugs in public. Nothing in national law requires a municipality to prohibit cannabis use outdoors, and nothing prevents it either.

The result is a patchwork, and it is genuinely a patchwork rather than a rule with exceptions. This is the same structural feature that produces different closing times from one municipality to the next and different answers to whether a visitor may enter a coffeeshop at all: national policy is a floor, and the town hall builds on it.

Two practical consequences follow. First, a sentence you read online about "the rules in the Netherlands" on this subject is almost certainly describing one city. Second, the only authoritative answer for the place you are standing in is that municipality's own by-law.

Amsterdam, the documented example

Amsterdam introduced its blowverbod on 25 May 2023, after complaints about crowding and nuisance in the oldest part of the city. The relevant details:

  • What it prohibits. Using cannabis on the street, and in any other publicly accessible place, inside the designated area.
  • Where. The Wallen, together with the Dam, the Damrak and the Nieuwmarkt — the old city centre, not the whole city.
  • The penalty. €100, issued after a warning has been given and ignored.
  • Who enforces it. Both police officers and municipal enforcement officers (handhavers).
  • Who it applies to. Everyone. It is not a tourist measure; residents are fined on the same terms.
  • What is excluded. Terraces belonging to premises that hold a tolerance declaration — that is, coffeeshop terraces.

The area is exactly the part of the city most visitors walk through, which is why this is the rule broken by accident more than any other. The Amsterdam guide covers the ban together with the city's entry rules and the things Amsterdam is widely reported to have done and has not.

Amsterdam publishes the current position itself. Because a by-law can be amended, extended or narrowed at any time, check the municipality's own page before relying on the boundaries above.

How the zones are marked

Where a municipality designates a no-use area, it signs the boundary. In practice the signage is easy to miss:

  • It is frequently Dutch-only, sometimes pictogram-only.
  • It sits at the boundary, so walking in from an adjacent street can mean never passing one.
  • The pictogram is small and mounted alongside other street furniture.

Treat the absence of a sign as weak evidence at best. If you are in a crowded historic centre and you cannot see one, that is more likely to mean you entered from the wrong direction than that no ban exists.

Indoors is a separate rule entirely

The question "may I smoke inside?" is governed by tobacco law, not by drug policy, and the answer surprises people in the opposite direction from what they expect.

The Dutch indoor smoking ban applies to hospitality venues and coffeeshops are explicitly among them. Designated indoor smoking rooms are no longer permitted in hospitality either. Critically, it is a tobacco ban: the enforcement authority lists among the prohibited items products containing tobacco, such as a water pipe or a joint with tobacco. So, inside a venue:

  • A joint rolled with tobacco is a tobacco product and falls under the ban.
  • Cannabis on its own is not a tobacco product and is not covered by that ban. Pure joints, herbal substitutes, pipes and vaporisers are the usual alternatives, and a shop that permits consumption will tell you which of them it allows.
  • Vapes and e-cigarettes are covered by the indoor ban, with or without nicotine.

Terraces are outdoors and are treated differently, subject to the terrace being sufficiently open and to local rules. If you habitually mix tobacco, plan for this before you sit down: it is a legal restriction on the venue, not a preference staff can waive. The full set of in-shop rules is in the complete guide to Dutch coffeeshop rules.

Hotels, rentals and private homes

Accommodation is a property question rather than a public-order one. National law does not grant permission to use cannabis in a hotel room, and it does not specifically forbid it either; what applies is the operator's own house rules, the tenancy or booking terms, and the indoor tobacco ban where the space is a shared or public one.

Assume nothing. Many Dutch hotels and short-stay rentals apply a strict no-smoking policy covering everything smoked, enforce it through the terms you agreed at booking, and treat a breach as a matter of damage and charges rather than of law. A balcony belonging to a room is not automatically outside those terms. If it matters to your plans, ask before you book — the honest answer from the property is worth more than any general statement a page like this one could make.

Carrying it around

Possession sits under national policy rather than the local by-law, and the two are easy to confuse. For an adult carrying up to 5 grams for personal use, the police state that the drugs may be confiscated but the prosecutor will not prosecute. Confiscation is still a police interaction and it is recorded. Above 5 grams the tolerance stops.

Two things follow. Being inside a no-use zone with cannabis in your pocket is not the offence; using it there is. And the tolerance is domestic and daily: it does not travel with you across a border, which is covered in taking cannabis out of the Netherlands. The wider question of what "tolerated" means is set out in is cannabis legal in the Netherlands?

Why this page has no other fines on it

You will find figures for other Dutch cities quoted confidently elsewhere, and a widely repeated claim about how many municipalities prohibit drug use in public space. We have deliberately left both out.

The figures circulating for cities other than Amsterdam trace back to reporting that is several years old, and Dutch municipal by-laws and penalty schedules are revised regularly. The count of municipalities is worse: the underlying reporting is old and the number of Dutch municipalities has itself changed through mergers since it was published. A number that was true once and is quoted as though it were current is more damaging than no number, because a reader acts on it.

Where we can cite a municipality's own current source, we publish the figure. Where we cannot, we say so.

How to check the city you are in

  1. Search the municipality's name together with APV or blowverbod on lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl, the government's register of local regulation. The APV is published there in full, in its current version.
  2. Check the municipality's own website, which usually explains the by-law in plainer language and often maps the area.
  3. Look for boundary signage as you walk, and remember you may have entered without passing one.
  4. When in doubt, use a coffeeshop terrace where the shop permits it, or wait until you are back in private accommodation that allows it.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Dutch rules on cannabis are set both nationally and locally and can change without notice. Hazely does not sell cannabis, take orders, handle payments or make reservations, and does not recommend or rank shops. Always follow the instructions of the shop and of local authorities, and confirm current requirements with an official source before you travel.

All eight reference pages are listed on the coffeeshop guides index.

Sources

All sources below were checked on 4 August 2026.

  1. Gemeente Amsterdam — Blowverbod en aanscherping alcoholverkoop op de Wallen. The municipality's own page on the ban. Read it for the current boundaries before relying on ours.
  2. Amsterdam — Algemene Plaatselijke Verordening 2008 on lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl. The by-law text itself, in its current version.
  3. NOS, 25 May 2023. Source for the start date, the area covered, the €100 fine after a warning, the terrace exemption, and enforcement by both police and municipal officers.
  4. Politie — Wat zijn de regels over drugsgebruik en drugsbezit?. Source for possession of up to 5 grams by an adult being confiscated rather than prosecuted.
  5. NVWA — Rookverbod. Source for coffeeshops falling under the indoor smoking ban and for the ban covering products containing tobacco, including a joint with tobacco.
  6. Rijksoverheid — Waar geldt een rookverbod?. Source for coffeeshops being named among indoor smoke-free venues and for smoking rooms no longer being permitted.
  7. lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl. The government register in which every municipality's current APV is published.

Municipal by-laws change more often than national policy, and this page can only be as current as its review date. If you find something here that is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it and re-date the page.