Amsterdam: Europe and the Arabs
How many drugs does the Netherlands use? It is enough for a market value of about one billion euros, according to traces found in wastewater, according to the Dutch newspaper Trouw. According to what was reported by the Belgian news agency and the media in Brussels, the capital of the neighboring country, for the first time, researchers were able to map the value of Dutch drug consumption using wastewater analysis. It is estimated that at least 903 million euros are spent annually on part of this black market, as the researchers concluded after measuring cocaine and other substances in wastewater treatment plants.
The research was recently published in the journal Addiction, a leading scientific journal. The researchers analyzed data on the residues of three types of drugs that ended up in sewers via urine. These substances were measured between 2015 and 2022 in thirty Dutch wastewater treatment plants in urban and rural areas. They then calculated the amount of drug consumption and its value on the street.