Dutch drug law rests on a single statute, the Opium Act. It divides substances into two annexes: List I for drugs presenting an unacceptable risk, such as heroin, cocaine, amphetamine and MDMA, and List II for cannabis products and a number of sleeping and sedative agents. Which list a substance appears on determines the offence and the sentence.
Legal basis
Article 2 of the Opium Act prohibits, for List I substances, importing and exporting, cultivating, preparing, processing, selling, delivering, supplying, transporting, holding in stock and manufacturing. Article 3 contains the same prohibitions for List II. Article 10 sets the penalties for List I offences, running up to twelve years for importation and exportation; Article 11 does the same for List II, where professional or large-scale cultivation carries a heavier maximum. Article 11a criminalises preparatory acts for professional cultivation, which is how suppliers of equipment and nutrients are reached. Article 13b gives the mayor the power to close premises where drugs are dealt from, an administrative measure that runs alongside the criminal case.
How it works in practice
Prosecution policy is set out in the Public Prosecution Service directive on the Opium Act. Small user quantities are treated differently from dealer quantities, and the tolerated sale of cannabis in coffee shops rests on that policy rather than on the statute, which continues to prohibit it. The supply side of the coffee shop has never been regulated, which is why cultivation cases keep reaching the courts. Alongside the sentence, the court can order confiscation of the proceeds and forfeiture of vehicles and equipment.
Where it goes wrong
Three points recur. First, the search: entry to a home requires an authorisation, and defects there can cost the prosecution its evidence. Second, the attribution of a stash or a plantation to a particular person, where a rental agreement or a set of keys is not by itself enough. Third, the parallel administrative track, because a closure order under Article 13b follows its own procedure with its own short deadline.
Related terms
Drug offences connect to seizure of evidence, to confiscation of criminal proceeds and to pre-trial detention.
Facing an Opium Act charge? Our criminal lawyers examine both the investigation and the closure order.
