The Netherlands: Dealing a harder blow to cannabis crime
"We're rolling back our policy of tolerance towards soft drugs which suggested that everything was allowed here. Well, it isn't." The Dutch decision to crack down on criminals involved in cannabis production is primarily a political decision, public prosecutor Kees van Spierenburg told Dutch media. "Politics is of course being fed by the call from the crime fighters, that this has become an important item in organised crime. We can't turn a blind eye to it."
Dutch police dismantle about 6000 illegal cannabis plantations per year, but the criminal gangs running them were left unaffected. Until now, the authorities limited themselves to tracking down and destroying the actual cannabis plantations. Individual cannabis growers were prosecuted. But it has become apparent that organised crime is also heavily involved in cannabis cultivation. Major criminals, who deal in hard drugs, weapons and human trafficking now also employ a whole network of cannabis growers. Ninety percent of the cannabis they produce is exported, and earns enormous amounts of money - 2.5 to 5 billions, according to the public prosecutor's office.
Police and justice officials intend to tackle soft drugs gangs just as rigorously as they do those distributing hard drugs. For decades such gangs were able to quietly earn millions of euros at minimal risk. Justice officials say they will try and seize this money, employing methods similar to those they use with hard drug dealers, such as undercover drug purchases, to arrest the criminals.
