1. Large Scale Cannabis Cultivation: the Case of the Netherlands
Prof. dr. Toine Spapens

2. Drug regulation policy in the Netherlands
Already in the 1960s, a solely repressive policy towards narcotic drugs was considered undesirable. A distinction between soft drugs (i.e. hashish and marihuana) and hard drugs (all other narcotic drugs) was introduced in 1976.
“Coffee shops” that sold soft drugs emerged in the mid-1970s. In 1979, the public prosecution service decided to refrain from active investigation unless they put public safety or health at risk, or openly tried to promote and expand their business.
Except for Amsterdam, coffee shops were small venues.
A limited number of (organized) crime groups imported hashish and marihuana from abroad.
Brussels

3. Growing cannabis: an accessible type of crime…
Extremely low treshold: anyone can start tomorrow, no criminal relations or previous experience required.
Growshops will sell you (legal) growing material, cuttings, deliver advice and expertise.
They will also buy your harvest and dispose of your waste.
Or help you to contact the “right” people…
Brussels

4. The result: a ‘cannabis network’
Brussels

5. The cannabis network (1)
People growing a few plants for personal use (not part of the network)
Small-scale independent growers (50 – 300 plants, private homes)
Large-scale independent growers (1000+ plants, commercial premises)
Operators of 5 – 10 cannabis nurseries, dependent growers, private homes
Organized criminal groups running growshops, large-scale nurseries (5000+ plants), trafficking operations.
Brussels

6. The Cannabis Network (2)
Crews cutting the buds of plants
People who specialize in drying and packaging cannabis
People who produce prefabricated joints
People who construct cannabis nurseries
Electricians who adapt the wiring
Et cetera
Brussels

7. 50.000 plants, 1250+ kilos of cannabis, €3.75 million wholesale
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8. Why large-scale cannabis cultivation?
Coffeeshops: it is easier to buy than to grow your own supply.
Export: drug tourism as well as ‘kilo shipments’
Cannabis export is intertwined with the trafficking of other narcotic drugs:
Hashish (imported from Morocco)
XTC and Amphetamines (indigenously manufactured)
Cocaine (imported from South America)
Heroin (imported via Turkey)
Brussels

9. Export as a driver (1) Increase of drug tourism
Example: Coffee shop Checkpoint (Terneuzen)
2500 – 3000 Belgian customers per day
Maximum 5 grams of hashish/marihuana per customer
Cannabis Cultivation

10. Export as a driver (2) Emergence of drug dealing houses
Selling amounts of hashish and marihuana above 5 gram
Selling assorted hard drugs
Estimated 150 in one border area alone (South Limburg)
Cannabis cultivation

11. Export as a driver (3)
“Kilo shipments” to other countries on the continent
Weekly shipments to small dealers
Delivered by couriers
Larger shipments to
the UK and Ireland
(traditional trafficking)
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12. Conclusion
Large scale cannabis cultivation is not a drug problem, it is a market problem.
There is no point in growing/manufacturing/importing large quantities if you cannot sell the product…
The only solution is a systematic reduction of the outlets of Dutch criminals for different types of narcotic drugs
Let the Belgians, British, French, Germans, Scandinavians, and so on, produce or import their own supply!
Brussels