The short answer
Cannabis is not legal in the Netherlands. It is tolerated. Buying up to five grams in a licensed coffeeshop and smoking it there will cause you no trouble whatsoever — but the law itself was never changed, and that distinction explains everything else on this page.
What "tolerated" means
In 1976 the Dutch Opium Act was amended to draw a line between what it called soft drugs and hard drugs. Cannabis went on one side of that line, heroin and cocaine on the other. Selling cannabis stayed illegal, but the public prosecutor was instructed not to pursue it where it happened under controlled conditions. That instruction is the policy of gedogen — official tolerance — and it has held for fifty years.
The conditions are known by the initials AHOJG. No advertising, no hard drugs, no overlast (nuisance to the neighbourhood), no jeugd (nobody under 18), and no sale of more than five grams per person per day.
Break one of them and a coffeeshop does not get a fine. It loses the tolerance it exists on, and it can be closed. That is why the door staff are so immovable about ID, and why nobody behind a counter will bend a rule to be friendly. How this arrangement came about is a story worth knowing — our own name comes out of it.
Can tourists buy weed in Amsterdam?
Yes. There is a national rule on the books — the ingezetenencriterium, the residence criterion — which since 2012 has allowed a municipality to restrict its coffeeshops to Dutch residents. A handful of towns near the Belgian and German borders, Maastricht among them, do apply it.
Amsterdam never has. The question came back to the council around the 2026 municipal elections, and in June 2026 the incoming city government rejected it outright, on the straightforward argument that a ban would hand the trade to street dealers rather than end it. So the position today is unambiguous: if you are 18 or over and can show a valid passport or ID card, you are welcome in any coffeeshop in the city, wherever you are from.
Can tourists smoke weed in Amsterdam?
Inside a coffeeshop, yes — that is what the place is for. Outdoors, it depends where you are standing.
Since 25 May 2023 smoking cannabis on the street has been banned in the old city centre, the area around the Red Light District. The fine is €100. In practice officers usually warn first, but you should not count on it. Coffeeshop terraces in that area are exempt.
Elsewhere in Amsterdam the city takes a far more relaxed view of a joint on a bench or by a canal. That is tolerance rather than a right, though: causing a nuisance can still earn you a fine, and a crowded tram stop, a playground or a café terrace full of people eating is always a bad idea.
The simplest approach is the one most locals take. Smoke it where you bought it, or take it somewhere quiet and green.
How much you may have
- 5 grams — the most a coffeeshop may sell you in one day, and the most you should have on you
- Over 5 grams — possession is an offence, and the police may take it off you
- 5 plants at home — tolerated for personal use, and only that; anything resembling a commercial crop is not
What is not tolerated at all
Hard drugs. Cocaine, MDMA, ketamine and the rest are illegal, full stop. No coffeeshop sells them and no coffeeshop will tolerate anyone trying to.
Street dealers. If someone offers you something on a bridge, walk on. It will not be what they say it is, you have no idea what is in it, and the whole point of the coffeeshop system is that you do not have to take that risk.
Taking it with you. The tolerance stops dead at the Dutch border. Germany, Belgium, France and the UK all treat a few grams in your bag as a criminal matter, and airports are not a grey area. Whatever you buy here, finish it here.
Driving. Driving under the influence of cannabis is an offence exactly as it is with alcohol, and the police do test for it. If you are driving later, do not smoke now.
So where does that leave you?
For a visitor, almost exactly where you hoped. You can walk into a licensed shop, be served by someone who knows what they are selling, and sit down with it — legally speaking, in a tolerated grey zone; practically speaking, in complete peace. Bring your passport, stay under five grams, and smoke it somewhere sensible.
If you want the rest of the practical detail — what is on the menu, how you pay, what happens at the door — we wrote that up separately. And if this is your first time, start here instead.