Media Article: Less cannabis grown in Netherlands as more countries allow cultivation

Cannabis cultivation in the Netherlands is declining as more and more countries allow the cultivation of the soft drug, the police said in a report on the drug market in the past four years. “Dutch cannabis cultivation seems to have lost importance,” the police write. Despite this, the Netherlands remains a major player in the global drug trade, the police said.

The police have been dismantling fewer and fewer cannabis plantations in recent years. Last year, the police found 1,230 plantations. In 2019, there were three times as many. The police added that this was partly due to staff shortages in the force and the available capacity focusing on other priorities.

At the same time, the police are increasingly finding weed from abroad in the Netherlands, intended for the Dutch market.

The Netherlands is still one of the main import countries for cocaine in Europe. The Dutch police have seized more cocaine in recent years. A similar trend is visible in Belgium and Spain. “This seems to indicate an expansion of the import, via various European ports,” the police said.

The production of synthetic drugs in the Netherlands also seems to be increasing, with the police finding more and more labs. The police are also finding more “combination labs” where more than one drug can be made. “Criminals can use these combination labs to quickly respond to the demand for different types of drugs,” the police said.

That is also visible in the dealers selling multiple types of drugs at the same time. According to the police, if the opportunity arises, drug dealers also take on other lucrative trades like illegal medicines, cigarettes, or firearms.

The police also noted a steady rise in new drug variants like ketamine3-MMC, and synthetic cannabis. “Flakka” is now also being produced in the Netherlands. As are other substances that are not yet punishable here and can be simply sold online. Sometimes, different types are mixed, often ketamine and MDMA. The police suspect that these cocktails, often called “tusi,” are mainly exported to Spain and the United Kingdom.

The Dutch police also recently confiscated a large batch of nitazines – extremely strong and dangerous painkillers that are very rarely used in Europe – for the first time. The police believe that Netherlands residents are sometimes involved in the trade of such painkillers, even though there is no big local market for them.

Source: https://nltimes.nl/2024/10/15/less-cannabis-grown-netherlands-countries-allow-cultivation

Police Article

The Netherlands remains a crucial hub in the global drug market

In recent years, the police have been able to hit the drug criminal harder in his revenue model. By means of data-driven detection, international cooperation, source control and system approach, the police continue to tackle drug crime. Nevertheless, the Netherlands remains an important hub in the global drug market. All kinds of drugs (polydrugs) are imported, implemented, exported and produced here, and internationally operating criminal networks use them.

Investigators search drug lab

This is shown in the Phenomenon Image of Drugs 2024 ‘Organized Drug Crime ’. This report, prepared by researchers from the National Expertise and Operations Unit (LX) and the National Investigation and Interventions Unit (LO), highlights the size, nature and developments of the Dutch drug market over the past four years.

Challenges

In the 2021 phenomenon of drugs from the police, researchers already wrote that the globally branched illicit drug industry in the Netherlands junction is a large and complex crime issue and constitutes a social and economic phenomenon. ‘The challenges for the police are unchanged ’, says Willem Woelders, portfolio holder for drugs. ‘After our interventions, criminals will always look for new opportunities to continue their business. ’ Polydrug trafficking is often the norm from wholesale to retail and polydrug production also occurs.

Persons who are not part of the drug networks themselves provide all kinds of criminal hand and tension services and enable this organized crime. These people can make good money from this. Think of professional (groups of) criminal facilitators, such as corruption brokers, underground bankers, logistics service providers and boiler builders. But there are also individual facilitators, such as house or pilot landlords for storage and production, waste dumpers, hemp chips, and so on. “We have to break through these kinds of criminal careers,” says Woelders.  

Emerging drugs

New variants are on the rise in the already large Dutch drug market, including ketamine, synthetic cathinones such as 3-MMC and THC variants, the main active substance of the cannabis plant. In addition to those THC variants, there are also synthetic cannabinoids, which mimic the action of THC. An emerging trend is the production of and trade in pink cocaine or tucia drug type in which two or more types of drugs are mixed, mostly ketamine and MDMA. The pink blocks resemble cocaine blocks, but unlike the name suggests, they rarely, if ever, contain cocaine. The production of methamphetamine in the Netherlands has increased and appears to have settled here permanently. Imports and trade in methamphetamine have also increased.

The researchers note that the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain are important importing countries for cocaine in Europe. But seizures of cocaine in the ports of several other European countries are increasing. This could indicate an expansion of imports to the continent. In European ports, Dutch criminals work together with local brokers, facilitators and / or criminal networks. Foreign criminals in turn import cocaine through Dutch ports.

Collaborating networks

Drug networks are intertwined, the researchers say. Everyone seems connected to everyone, everyone can work with everyone at both national and international level. The collaboration is also practical in nature. For example, multiple networks use the same facilitators, and the same production locations and / or the same storage locations.

The Netherlands remains a large production country for drugs. Not only has the number of drug production sites found increased in the last two years, but the locations are also increasingly found in residential areas. Accidents during the production process result in a greater risk of casualties. In addition, more production locations have been discovered where the production of different types of drugs takes place. Criminal organizations can use this combilabs respond quickly to the demand for different types of drugs.

The number of young crime suspects has almost halved in the Netherlands in the past ten years. The number of young people suspected of drug crime has also fallen, albeit slightly less. These young people have often committed other crimes in the past, such as property and violence crime. For example, on commission they commit violence or act as an exhaler in the seaports.

Problem of all of us

‘Addressing organized drug crime is not just a matter for the police ’, says portfolio holder Woelders. ‘It concerns us all: from government agency, business, science to individual citizens. Everyone must take responsibility for this. This involves breaking through criminal careers, tackling criminal money flows and increasing social resilience. Everyone can help with that. Report suspicions of drug production or trafficking to us. This can also be done anonymously via Report Crime Anonymous. ‘

About the investigation

The phenomenon image of drugs 2024 ‘Drug crime in pictures ’ is a product of Team Research of the National Expertise & Operations unit and the National Investigation & Interventions unit. It is part of a series of phenomenon studies into the various nationally prioritized police security issues, including excessive violence, online fraud and environmental crime. These phenomenon studies help the police to make strategic choices.

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