Justice minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus has said that the government needs to ‘think critically’ about whether the Netherlands should continue to hold 1,100 festivals a year, in order to stem the use of recreational drugs.

In an interview with the Telegraaf, Grapperhaus said that he has warned drug users ‘that you are helping an enormous criminal industry and the impact is felt by normal people.’

People discovered with drug quantities considered to be for their ‘own use’, he said, would not be let into festivals and those suspected to be dealers would be arrested. ‘If we could police this, you’d really see something,’ he reportedly said. ‘The problem is that we have 1,100 festivals in the Netherlands so should we put our police on this full-time?’

The CDA minister added that he did not do drugs but his own guilty pleasures post-debate were crisps and Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate.