The Netherlands is great at many things: being happy, sleeping, speaking English and, well, smoking weed.
In fact, the Dutch are so good at consuming the forbidden herb that a whopping three of their cities ranked in the top five for the cities with the highest cannabis consumption in Europe, the NRC reports.
That’s the result of a recent study conducted by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), for which researchers tested the water in sewage treatment plants in 88 cities in 24 European countries.
Rotterdam takes the crown
Good ol’ Rotterdam snags the honour (if we can call it that) of first place in the weed Olympics. 🥇
That means the concentration of cannabis residues in the sewage in no other participating European city is as high as in the Dutch port city.
But Rotterdammers don’t only like to smoke the occasional joint; they’re also fans of other drugs, it seems.
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The city came in second place for residues of MDMA and ketamine and in fifth place for cocaine.
What about other Dutch cities?
So, about the other Dutch representation in the top five of the most weed-smoking cities in Europe. Following Rotterdam in the top spot are Leeuwarden (#3) and Amsterdam (#4). 🌱
Amsterdam and Leeuwarden are also third and fourth place for cocaine use, following the cities of Antwerp (Belgium) and Tarragona (Spain). When it comes to MDMA, Amsterdam sits in third place, Utrecht in fourth, and Leeuwarden comes in seventh place.
Surprised by Leeuwarden’s stats? You’re not the only one; the Dutch researchers who participated in the study are right there with you.
As Laura Smit-Rigter tells NRC, “if you look at the demographic profile of Leeuwarden, it is not a city with many students or tourism,” so the results were not expected to be so… high. 😉
What do you think about the high drug consumption in Dutch cities? Share your thoughts in the comments!