Coffeeshops in The Hague: rules, public-use ban and enforcement

The Hague counted 36 tolerated coffeeshopsat the end of 2024 — the third city in the country with more than twenty, and the same figure every year since 2015. In 1995 there were 103. This page sets out the city's rules and where each is written.

From 103 to 36

The Hague brought the number down through quality requirements rather than a cap: 103 shops in 1995, 40 by 2009, then four more closures — two after a negative Bibob screening, two for selling to a minor. The city names no maximum number, and the council rejected a district-based reduction. This directory lists 28: only businesses that call themselves a coffeeshop in their own public listing.

Using cannabis in the street: eight designated areas

APV article 2:48(3) bans soft-drug use on the road, but only in areas the city council designates. The current decision runs from 10 March 2026 to 1 April 2029 and names eight: the centre, Bouwlust/Vrederust, Segbroek, the Scheveningen coastal strip including the pier, the area around the southern harbour head, the Malieveld including Centraal Station, Laak, and a 50-metre radius around every school and playground in the city.

Unlike Amsterdam's, the text carries no coffeeshop exception — and needs none: the ban reaches the street only, not premises open to the public, which is the difference from Rotterdam, where it covers the whole municipality and buildings with it. Whether a coffeeshop terrace inside a designated area counts as “the road” is settled by no document, so we say nothing about it.

The residency criterion

The I-criterion is one of the national tolerance conditions and appears in the city's own policy. In March 2021 the mayor wrote that the local triangle had decided not to prioritise enforcement for the time being, because the city has no noteworthy drug tourism and enforcement would push buyers to street dealing, where nobody checks anyone's age. The triangle watches for displacement from cities that do enforce. We found no later reaffirmation, so the position dates from 2021.

Distance to schools — and the line-of-sight rule

No secondary or vocational school within 250 metres walking distance.
A coffeeshop's front door may not be visible from the front door of a primary school — a rule particular to The Hague.
The interior must be clearly visible from the street.

Some sources quote 350 metres. That was a national plan from 2012 that was never introduced; the city's own figure is 250.

A breach costs the tolerance permanently

Hard drugs on the premises, or a minor inside, means closure without warning. Other breaches draw a warning first. What matters more is what follows a closure: the tolerated status lapses, and after reopening the sale of cannabis at that address is no longer tolerated. Police check each shop four times a year, and every shop goes through a Bibob integrity screening every four years.

The Hague is not in the closed-chain experiment, and said why

The city declined: the experiment's limited scope, the requirement that every coffeeshop in a participating municipality take part, and doubts about the quality and range from the designated growers. So a Hague coffeeshop is supplied through the ordinary, untolerated back door.

See all 28 coffeeshops in The Hague →

Sources

This is not legal advice. ZazaMap sells nothing, brokers nothing and advertises no individual business.