The Netherlands Drug Situation 2010 - Trimbos-instituut

new drugs can pose to the EU (T.K.24077-255). The procedure will be evaluated inthe EU framework. After the evaluation, the government will inform Parliamentabout the outcomes and eventual next steps.o Another resolution concerned signs of sales of ‘fake dope’ in certain areas in Amsterdam,which caused (serious) nuisance and disturbances of public order. It requestedthe government to investigate whether legislation was considered necessaryto enforce this drug sale in practice (T.K.24077-246). In reaction to this resolution,the government consulted the municipality of Amsterdam, the Association ofmunicipalities in the Netherlands, the Public Prosecutor and the Centre for Safetyand Prevention of Criminality. The problem proved to be limited to a small area inthe inner city of Amsterdam and it was tackled with existing (local) instruments andlaws (T.K.24077-255).o A third resolution requested the government to analyze existing practical problemsin law enforcement, prevention, and treatment of GHB (T.K.24077-244). With regardsto law enforcement, the existing laws are considered adequate. If new legislationshould be necessary, the best option is considered to be an extension of art.10 of the Opium Act (prohibition of preparatory actions for drug offences) shouldbe extended. To improve law enforcement in the direction of producers and traffickers,research will be conducted into the (international) market of GHB and possibleinvolvement of organised crime (T.K.24077-255).In all these cases, existing laws and procedures were considered adequate to tackle theproblems. There are no changes in the Opium Act in 2010. An “expert committee for the ranking system of drugs in the Opium Act” was installed(see also chapter 1). This committee will work out three possible scenarios for theranking of drugs in the law: keeping the existing system with two separate lists forsoft drugs and hard drugs; introducing a system with only one list; and introducing atotally different system (T.K.24077-254, see also: Van Amsterdam et al. 2009). An amendment of the Opium Act is in preparation in order to prohibit grow shops,which were shown to be closely linked to illicit production of cannabis. The amendmentis in the formal consultation procedure in 2010 (T.K.32500-VI/2). On the basis of the criminal law and on requisition of the Prosecutor, the Judge canimpose repayment of illegal financial profits on a person who is convicted for an offence.The Prosecutor published an update of the standard calculations in the case ofindoor cultivation of cannabis, in which – amongst other changes - the price is set at€ 3,280 per kilo of cannabis and € 2,85 per cutting (www.openbaarministerie.nl, November2010). The existing Opium Act guidelines for the Public Prosecutor have been continued –without change – in December 2009 until the end of 2010 (Stc 2009-19486).ConclusionMost of the police investigations into more serious forms of organised crime concerndrugs. The proportion of investigations into cases with soft drugs/cannabis is increasing,that of cases with hard drugs is decreasing, although hard drugs still form the majority.In the criminal justice chain – police, Public Prosecutor, Courts – the number of OpiumAct offences is decreasing. This is in line with a general decreasing trend in criminal justicecases in the Netherlands. Cases with hard drugs show a different trend than thosewith soft drugs: the proportion of hard drug cases is decreasing, but that of soft drug127