96ness of the registrations Also, databases are often adapted and improved in the course of time.

Later versions may differ from previous ones. We have to deal with ‘living systems’. Figures and trends should therefore be interpreted carefully. We present the current updates.

The following political framework is relevant for the interpretation of the data:

• The organized crime with regard to heroin, cocaine and synthetic drugs forms one of the pri-

ority areas of the fight against organized crime (T.K.29911/1).

• In December 2007, the Minister of Justice launched a specification called ‘Strengthening of

approaches against organized crime’ (T.K.29911/10). The approaches contain a combination of administrative and preventive measures, criminal justice and repressive approaches and international co-operation. There is a close link with activities against money laundering and other financial-economic crime.

• In addition, the intensification of law enforcement on cannabis cultivation, which was launched in April 2004, is still running (T.K.28192/23;T.K.28192/36). Administrative ap- proaches play an important role here.

The Opium Act was amended in 2006. A paragraph 5 was added to section 11, which concerns the penalty for criminal acts involving large amounts of soft drugs. The maximum penalty now is six years of imprisonment (or a proportionate fine). This amendment had to be made as a con- sequence of the 2004-EU Framework Decision on Drugs (Kaderbesluit Drugs). ‘Large amounts’ are defined as 500 grams of cannabis, 200 plants of cannabis or 500 units of any other drug listed as a soft drug (Stb 2006/416). This amendment is relevant for the interpretation of data on sanctions for soft drug offences.

Main findings 2007:

• The general picture for 2007 is one of flattening trends and even decreases in the number of

Opium Act cases.

• The influx of Opium Act cases in the criminal justice chain (arrests by police and military po- lice) is in 2007 slightly lower than in 2006: the number of cases registered in 2007 is about 21,250 (preliminary data), whereas in 2006 there were about 22,000 cases (minus 4%).

• Opium Act cases form 7% of the total number of cases that the police dealt with in 2007,

which is not different from 2006.

• The Public Prosecutor handled more than 19,200 Opium Act cases in 2007, also less than in

2006 (minus 5%). Opium Act cases form 7% of the total number of cases.

• Despite the small decreases in 2007, the total number of cases handled by police and Public

Prosecutor is higher in recent years than it was before 2004.

• The number of Opium Act cases handled by the Court decreased considerably: from 13,000

cases in 2006 to almost 12,000 cases in 2007.

• We also see a decrease in the number of unconditional custodial sentences for Opium Act

cases. This decrease in custodial sentences has been going on since 2004. The mean dura- tion of the custodial sentences, however, increased in 2007, after decreasing trends in the years before.

• There is also a decrease of community service sentences for Opium Act offences. These or-

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• With regards to the fraction of soft drugs, we saw a rising trend over the period 2000-2006 in

all parts of the criminal justice chain, but in 2007 this trend discontinued.

• Hard drug cases still form the majority of the Opium Act cases. The difference with the num-

ber of soft drug cases, however, is very small in the first parts of the criminal justice chain. Hard drug cases get a clear majority in the final parts, especially in prisons.

• Opium Act cases, especially hard drug cases, still have a relatively high chance of passing

through the whole criminal justice chain, which means that a hard drug offence is likely to end up in an imprisonment.

• A considerable proportion (72%) of the investigations into more serious forms of organised

crime involve trafficking or production of drugs.

Opium Act cases in police registrations

• The police registered over 20,000 Opium Act cases in 2007. In general, the figures show a slight decrease compared to 2006.

• The number of soft drug cases, which showed an increasing trend during the last six years,

flattened out in 2007: there were about 8,000 cases in 2006 and 7,800 in 2007 (37% of the Opium Act cases 2007).

• The number of hard drug cases leveled off since 2005: there were about 11,000 hard drug

cases in 2006 and 10,700 cases in 2007 (50% of the Opium Act cases 2007).

• The number of cases with a combination of soft and hard drugs also levels off in 2007: there

were about 2,700 cases in 2006 and 2007 (13% of the total 2007).

• The overall Opium Act suspect profile did not change much.

- The majority – almost nine out of each ten - of the over 20,000 Opium Act suspects are male.

- 42% is a first offender, 58% is a repeat offender. 16% has a criminal record of more than 10 previous offences. Hard drug suspects have a more lengthy criminal record than soft drug offenders.

- Mean age of Opium Act suspects in 2007 is around 32 years (33 in 2006). Soft drug sus- pects and suspects involved in offences with combinations of soft and hard drugs are older than hard drug suspects (around 34 years versus 31 years).

Opium Act cases at Public Prosecutor (table 8.1)

• The Public Prosecutor handled over 19,200 Opium Act cases in 2007, which is a 5% de-

crease compard to 2006.

• There is a decreasing trend since 2005, 2004 was a ‘peak year’.

• The decrease in 2007 holds true for hard drug and soft drug cases and combined cases. • The proportions in 2007 are 49% (hard drugs), 47% (soft drugs) and 3% (combined cases),

which means that there is almost no difference in proportions of hard and soft drug cases.

• Most cases concern production, trafficking or dealing of drugs. Remarkable is that soft drugs

form the majority in these categories of offences (54%). The intensified law enforcement on cannabis cultivation might be due to this. About one third of all cases concerns possession of drugs, and this possession concerns hard drugs mostly. As mentioned above, cases of pos- session will only be recorded if someone possesses more of a drug than the small amount that is considered ‘for own use’.

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Table 8.1: Opium Act cases recorded by Public Prosecutor by drug type, 2001-2007I,II

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Hard drugs 7,894 9,502 10,305 11,969 9,904 9,880 9,386

Hard and soft drugs 459 455 612 695 716 819 666

Soft drugs 5,521 6,613 7,283 9,247 9,480 9,519 9,144

Other/unknown 70 47 31 32 60 35 73

Total 13,944 16,617 18,231 21,943 20,160 20,253 19,269

Hard drugs 57% 57% 57% 55% 49% 49% 49%

Hard and soft drugs 3% 3% 3% 3% 4% 4% 3%

Soft drugs 40% 40% 40% 42% 47% 47% 47%

Other/unknown 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

TotalIII _{100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%}

Source: OMDATA, WODC. I More than one case may be recorded per suspect and cases may have been ‘filtered’ at the level of the police (only cases with a reasonable chance of being prosecuted will be sent to the public prosecutor). II Figures are cleaned and adapted every year. The table contains adapted figures, which might be slightly different from figures reported before. III Due to rounding off percentages do not always add up to 100%.

Organized crime (table 8.2)

Figures on investigations on organised crime come from the Information services of the National Police. They make an annual inventory for Europol, in the framework of European Organised Crime Threat Assessment (‘OCTA’).

• In 2007, 328 investigations into more serious forms of organised crime were surveyed. 72% of these involve trafficking or production of drugs, 3% less than in 2006. The majority con- cerns cases with hard drugs (83%); 67% concern cases with soft drugs, and 47% cases with both hard and soft drugs.

• 34% of the hard drug related cases concern only one category of hard drug. All others con-

cern more than one category of hard drug.

• 29% of the soft drug related cases concern one type of drug.

• The proportion of cases with more than one category of hard or soft drugs increased com-

pared to 2006.

• Cocaine is the prevailing drug of the investigations into hard drugs (149 investigations, 77%). There is an increase compared to 2006, when cocaine was involved in 68% of the cases. 40% concerns synthetic drugs (77 investigations; was 43% in 2006) and 20% heroin (39 in- vestigations, less than in 2006, when it was 29%).

• The investigations into soft drugs concern mostly trafficking or growing of Dutch grown weed

(‘nederwiet’, 75%; 118 investigations) or else the trafficking of hashish (25%;40 investiga- tions) (not in table).

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Table 8.2: Investigations into more serious forms of organized crime, percentage of drug cases, and type of drug involved, 2001-2007I