Interventions on the Supply Side of the Local Hard Drug Market: Towards a Regulated Hard Drug Trade? the Case of the City of Rotterdam

Abstract

The aim of interventions on the supply side of the hard drug market is to diminish or regulate the unwanted effects of the hard drug trade, with respect to both public health and safety. However, initiatives for the regulation of the hard drug trade cannot be pursued at the international governmental level because the sale of hard drugs is forbidden by law. Therefore, what remains are initiatives at the local level. In a case study of the City of Rotterdam, an inventory is made of interventions on the supply side. It describes interventions initiated by both governmental and private organizations, including the closure of certain dealing addresses, public transport and other general regulations, reporting centers for drug-related nuisance (i.e., local government), and “self-regulation” of dealing addresses and drug consumption/selling rooms (i.e., private interventions). The argument here is for a different approach of (dosed) suppression and regulation (by public and private interventions). In this approach, the use of “quality criteria” for dealing addresses and the spread of dealing addresses are important instruments.