Quarter of NL residents notice drug use, dealing in their neighborhoods

Nearly a quarter, 24.3 percent, of Netherlands residents have noticed drug use or drug dealing in their neighborhoods. About 4 percent reported a lot of drug-related nuisance. Drug-related issues are most prevalent in Amsterdam and the other three large cities, and in the country's border regions, Statistics Netherlands reported based on a survey of 135 thousand Dutch and information from the police's 167 base teams.

The residents under the police base team Centrum-Burgwallen in Amsterdam experience the most drug-related issues, with 78.8 percent saying they've noticed drug dealing or -use in their neighborhood. In the Amsterdam Centrum-Jordaan team region, 59.7 percent of residents said the same. Seven other Amsterdam regions had 40 to 50 percent residents reporting noticing drug related issues. These regions are all located in Amsterdam Oost, West and Zuid.

Residents of the other large cities also often noticed drug use or drug dealing. In The Hague this was most common in the base team regions Jan Hendrikstraat at 51.4 percent, De Heemstraat at 50 percent, and Hoefkade at 52 percent. In Rotterdam a lot of drug use and dealing were reported in Centrum at 54.4 percent, Delfsaven at 61.8 percent, Charlois at 49.9 percent, and Feijenoord at 49.1 percent. In Utrecht it's Utrecht Noord at 44.6 percent of residents noticing drug use and -dealing, and Utrecht Zuid at 42 percent.

In addition to the large cities, residents of the areas that border with Germany and Belgium also often notice drug dealing and -use in their neighborhoods. Half of the Kerkrade base team region indicated that this happens in their neighborhood. Also in Heerlen and Maastricht, over 40 percent of residents reported noticing drug-related issues.

Residents of Groningen Zuid least often noticed drugs in their neighborhood, with only 14.1 percent saying the did so

Of the Netherlands residents who reported experiencing a lot of nuisance from drug use or drug dealing, 46 percent also indicated that their neighborhood has deteriorated in terms of quality of life in the past year - four times higher than residents who experienced little to no drug-related nuisance. People who notice drug-related issues are also more likely to report noticing other forms of nuisance, like harassment on the street, intoxicated people on the street and loitering young people, the stats office said.