The number of dismantled labs where synthetic drugs are produced rose by 20 percent last year and is therefore at the same level as in 2019. The report shows this on Tuesday National Overview Drug Locations 2022. The police see a gradual expansion to the west and north of the country: there is talk of a tripling of these drug labs in South Holland and a doubling in the North of the Netherlands. The number of accidents at drug labs has also risen sharply, with the police reporting a doubling there.
In 2022 fourteen serious incidents in drug labs instead, a year earlier there were six. The police suspect that more and more inexperienced people have come to work in the labs, because many so-called ‘cooks’ have been arrested in recent years. They often have insufficient knowledge of the chemical processes involved in producing drugs. Due to the increase of inexperienced people in drug labs, the police are seeing more fires and explosions. Last year, for example, one person was seriously injured and one person died in the Frisian Haule after a chemical explosion.
synthetic drugs
Throughout 2022, police dismantled 105 drug labs. Synthetic drugs were produced at a large majority of these locations. Almost half of these produced amphetamine, or speed, followed by methamphetamine and MDMA. The police report a striking increase in the number of decommissioned GHB production sites; that number increased from three in 2021 to thirteen in 2022. The police cannot say what caused this increase. Last year, the police mainly found locations where synthetic drugs are produced in the provinces of North Brabant, Gelderland, North Holland and Limburg.
The number of dismantled cannabis farms fell sharply: from 2,285 in 2021 to 1,604 in 2022. An important factor for this decrease is insufficient capacity within regional police units. In addition, a lower priority is given to tracing these nurseries. In addition, the ‘deployment of concealment methods by the growers’ make it more difficult to detect hemp farms.
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