Crack cocaine-related cases more than double since 2021, October sets record

Dutch police recorded 3,985 crack-related incidents in 2025, more than double the 1,469 logged in 2021, according to new National Police figures obtained by the investigative program Pointer.

A National Police spokesperson said the sharp rise stems mainly from housing shortages and addiction problems, especially among labor migrants who become homeless because of fraudulent temporary employment agencies known as malafide uitzendbureaus.

“Only when these people cause a nuisance on the street do they come into the picture with the police,” the spokesperson said.

The incidents—any police report mentioning “crack” or a variant—range from public nuisance, such as a crack user defecating in a building entrance, to dealers selling the smokable form of cocaine. October 2025 set a record with 406 incidents.

The spokesperson identified two main groups of crack dealers: “They are mostly the usual target groups: young boys who want to earn quick money and crack users who can finance their addiction by dealing.”

The police play only a limited role in reducing the incidents, the spokesperson said. “The police are completely at the end of the chain,” the spokesperson said. “We get confronted with the incidents but have little influence on the emergence or the solving of the problems.”