Defence ministry figures obtained by the Telegraaf show between 30 and 50 military personnel are fired each year because of drugs use.

The paper says 31 members of the armed forces lost their jobs in 2017. A spokesman for the ministry told the paper the estimated long term average is between 30 and 50 sackings but that exact figures for earlier years are unavailable.

The real number of drug users in the army is probably much higher as one in 10 of the population struggle with an addiction of some sort, according to addiction expert Dick Trubendorffer . ‘There is no reason to think it will be any different in the army,’ he told the paper.

In total the Dutch army, which takes a zero tolerance approach to hard drugs, employs some 40,000 people.