Dutch national police chiefs are opposed to the regulation of legalised marijuana production, saying plantations will be targeted in ‘extremely violent’ robberies.

The threat of theft is so acute the plantations would need to be under permanent guard which would require extra police involvement, the police chiefs say in an internal memo which is in the hands of the Volkskrant.

The memo, drawn up by acting national police head Ruud Bik, is in reaction to recent calls by several dozen mayors for regulated production. The mayors say it is unacceptable that legal cannabis cafes have to turn to criminals to buy their supplies.

Minister

Justice minister Ivo Opstelten has refused to introduce regulated production, saying it would conflict with EU and international drugs treaties.

‘Regulation will not combat criminality,’ Bik said. ‘One could imagine organised crime focusing on robing legal marijuana planations.

‘The theft of plants which are ripe for harvest already happens and is often coupled with extreme violence, including assault, kidnapping and murder. Legal plantations would have to be guarded 24 hours a day.’

Reaction

Heerlen mayor Paul Depla, one of the leading lights behind the regulation initiative, said he is ‘astonished’ by Bik’s reaction.

‘We want to remove plantations from criminal hands. But the national police are saying no, we are not doing that, because then criminals will rob our plantations,’ he told the Volkskrant.

The police want to ‘do nothing because of the potential repercussions and so leave production in the hand of criminals’, Depla said.