Sniffing out the illegal growers

Dutch authorities hope their ‘scratch and sniff card’ initiative will help in the battle against cannabis gangs

IT MAY come as a big surprise to foreigners, convinced that a pall of aromatic marijuana smoke floats above most Dutch neighbourhoods for all to sniff and get passively high, but, in reality, many citizens of the Netherlands apparently cannot readily detect the smell of weed. They are unaware of the telltale signs of living next door to an illegal cannabis plantation, worth a fortune to criminal growers.

Many decades after opening unique coffee shops with soft drugs menus and a controversial policy of tolerating the use of recreational drugs, the Dutch are achieving another world first.

A unique weapon to combat marijuana cultivation was recently launched – a “scratch and sniff” card – to help the public identify illegal plantations.

The Dutch authorities have been handing out the cards which emit a whiff of cannabis in the hope that Jan and Johanna citizen will turn sleuth and help police stamp out the illegal marijuana-growing industry.

Plantations flourish in attics, bedrooms, empty flats, garden sheds and remote farm buildings all over the country. Some of the largest have been hidden among legal crops in glasshouses.

There are some 40,000 plantations, according to some estimates, yet they are so well hidden that the police manage to bust only about 5,000 annually.

“Assist in combating cannabis plantations,” reads the green scratch card, which has two panels that when scratched releases the odour of marijuana plants.

Thirty thousand cards have been distributed to households in Rotterdam and the Hague in districts where criminal networks are suspected of being active and where plantations have already been uncovered.

The card, the brainchild of local councils, the government’s anti-marijuana taskforce and a large electricity distribution firm – which is losing a fortune in illegally tapped power – lists a police telephone number where information can be given anonymously.

Suspicious signs to watch out for, such as the sound of ventilators and closed curtains, are listed. The dangers of possible house fires and flooding caused by faulty automatic watering systems, which are regular occurrences, will be enough to persuade a reluctant informer to come forward, it is hoped.

There was some negative reaction from a few people, admits Arnie Loos, a police consultant and member of the government-appointed working group on curbing cannabis cultivation. Some did not fancy spying on neighbours or informing on them, but once they realised the dangers, that their own homes could burn down or be flooded, they had second thoughts.

“Half of all anonymous calls to police in Holland concern illegal cannabis plantations. Once people know their identities and safety are protected, they will co-operate. We know that cannabis plantations are in the hands of heavy criminal gangs, so weapons and intimidation are common place,” he says.

The scratch and sniff card project is part of a wider crackdown initiated by the new Dutch coalition government, who have declared war on criminals running illegal cannabis plantations, vowing to cut off the source of supply so that the number of so-called coffee shops allowed to sell small amounts of the drug will be drastically cut back.

Marijuana has become the Netherlands’ biggest cash crop behind tomatoes and cucumber, and the illegal industry is putting an estimated €2 billion per annum into the pockets of criminals. The vast majority of the crop is smuggled abroad.

For decades, the dilemma of how to address the supply of high-strength Dutch-grown marijuana to the country’s soft drugs coffee shops confounded the authorities.

Although it remains technically illegal, the Netherlands decriminalised the consumption and possession of 5g of cannabis in 1976 under the controversial gedoog (tolerance) policy. Citizens are allowed to grow up to five plants for their personal use.

Bulk cannabis cultivation and selling attracted criminal organisations because the penalties in the past were not a deterrent.

For decades, the back-door supply line to many of the still existing 700 coffee shops was carried on, with enormous profits for suppliers.

Today, special cannabis-busting police squads tour the country and an unmaned mini-helicopter was added to their arsenal last year. The Canna Chopper is equipped with odour and video detection, which can trace illegal cannabis hemp fields in remote parts of the country.

“Our new government is determined to use every means it can to stamp out the massive illegal marijuana-growing industry that is putting fortunes in criminals’ pockets,” says Wim van der Weegen, government spokesman for justice and soft drugs policy.

“If the scratch and sniff card project works, then it could become a nationwide weapon to get the public to support the police more.

“This is not about going after those with a couple of plants on their window sills for personal use like during hippy flower power times, it is about stamping out illegal activity worth billions of euro a year,” says Arnie Loos.

Last July, in one of the biggest single busts of 2010, police dismantled a marijuana plantation with 10,000 mature plants and one million cuttings in a greenhouse complex, showing the extent of the industry.