RIP. And no idea how to solve the problem of increasingly ruthless, violent crime within the drug mafia - Moroccan-dominated drug cartels take young guys from bad areas with no future aged 16 or 17 off the streets,
tell them they will get hundreds of thousands of euros and drink champagne in expensive clubs like rappers do, and have them kill someone they only saw on pictures, in broad daylight, on the streets. But it is not just the killings that are the problem - mayors, local politicians and agrarians are threatened with violence, waste is dumped illegally, etc. etc.
What is behind all this? Clearly Rotterdam being such a big port is part of the reason. Clearly the Netherlands' central location within Europe is part of the reason. But while it is true that most of the drug production is exported, it is probably equally true that the Netherlands could only become the world's drug lab because of relatively high social tolerance for occasional drug use and drug manufacturing. Most Dutch simply do not view it as a problem - there is this sense that viewing this as a problem is "backwards" and "conservative" and the Netherlands is "beyond" that. And this is not going to change. Occasional recreational drug use (MDMA, coke, speed, experimental amphetamines like 3-MMC, which is a big problem in the East among kids as young as 14 years old) is the rule, not the exception among young people, regardless of class, region or education level. This is only exacerbated due to the Covid lockdowns and curfews, as people went to bars and clubs less and had more parties at home. There will never be the level of public support necessary to wage an effective "drug war" anymore, so a different solution is needed - but it is also highly questionable whether decriminalization or legalization would make the Netherlands less attractive to drug cartels.
