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 ketamine, 3-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.