The Evolution of Crack and Basing Cocaine in the Rotterdam Heroin Scene

Abstract

This article describes the increasing trend of cocaine and crack use among marginalized polydrug users in Rotterdam since the end of the 1980s, based on quantitative data and ethnographic monitoring. This trend is subsequently placed within the context of developing supply structures as well as local drug policy developments including care and law enforcement strategies. The results show the dynamic relationship between illicit drug demand and supply and policy interventions. Given that the use of psychoactive substances will most likely continue, the challenge for local drug policy may lie not only in repression and providing care facilities but also in regulating the settings where demand and supply meet. The latter, in order to decrease the potential harm of drug use for both the users and the local population.