A record amount of cocaine seized by law enforcement in Belgium has the government in the market for some additional incinerators. 

Agence France-Presse reports that authorities there have “seized so much cocaine from smugglers operating through the port of Antwerp that it needs more incinerator space to destroy it.” 

“There’s a problem with incinerator capacity,” Belgian customs service spokesperson Francis Adyns told Agence France-Press, saying that the government has “a structural solution is on the way.”

According to Agence France-Presse, “Belgian authorities are on course to seize more than 100 tonnes in 2022, a new record after 89.5 tonnes was seized last year.”

Adyns told Euronews this week that the “main issue for the customs administration is to destroy all as quickly as possible all the cocaine.”

“If we have a huge drug bust, in terms of 5 to 8 tonnes, not everything can be immediately destroyed because of the capacity of the incinerators and in terms of environmental restrictions on the destruction of large amounts of drugs,” Adyns told the outlet. “But in the meantime, agreements were made with the incinerators who will provide us with more capacity to incinerate them.”

According to Euronews, “details of the plans to incinerate it and the schedule of incinerations are being kept secret due to fears that criminal organisations could now strike at those locations in an attempt to recover some of the seized narcotics.”

“We have to deal with a lot of money (in terms of its street value),” Adyns said. “The cost of the price on the street of a gramme of cocaine is about €50. So one can imagine if we have seized a few tonnes, what amount that represents. Due to these organisations that are not afraid of using violence, as we’ve seen in the Netherlands, and the large amount of money that is at stake, one can imagine that there is an enormous issue when it comes to the security (of the operation and) of our agents.” 

According to Euronews, Antwerp prosecutor Franky De Keyser in October described the seized contraband as a “mountain of cocaine.” 

The Brussels Times reports that “so much cocaine is being seized at the port of Antwerp that the confiscated drugs have to be stored at Customs.”

“That could give drug gangs ideas, prompting them, for example, to raid the customs warehouses … The approved incineration plants are not getting the seized cocaine processed,” according to the Brussels Times. “Antwerp prosecutor Franky De Keyser raised the alarm with Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne a few weeks ago. Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever also knocked on Van Quickenborne’s door for the same reason. The offices of Van Quickenborne and De Wever said a solution was being sought jointly. The Public Waste Agency of Flanders, OVAM, said Saturday that there is sufficient capacity in the incinerators, and that the problems are logistical.”

Agence France-Press reports that the country’s “latest problem stems from the astronomical quantities of cocaine from Latin America that are intercepted in Antwerp, Europe’s main port of entry for the illegal trade,” noting that Belgian authorities “are concerned that depots used to store the drugs could become targets for robberies by powerful gangs seeking to recover their lucrative cargoes.”

“According to local media reports, suspected gang members have been seen using drones to scout around customs depots housing seized cocaine worth millions of euros,” Agence France-Press reported this week. “Authorities are working quickly to destroy the seizures but, Adyns said, to incinerate cocaine ‘there are environmental standards to be met.’”

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As Belgian cannabis advocates pointed out in spades this year on 4/20, the country is hopelessly behind the times when it comes to reform. This is true not only compared to other countries across Europe, but also to its neighbors who exist in a tripartite political and economic union and alliance with each other within the E.U. These are the so-called Benelux countries. This inter-regional coalition, created in 1944, consists of Holland, Luxembourg, and Belgium. The cooperation between the three countries is in many ways similar to the DACH alliance which unites Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

When it comes to cannabis, however, Belgium is lagging behind its closest neighbors and economic partners and further in a way not seen in the DACH coalition—where all three countries within the same have moved forward on reform—and Switzerland is not even in the E.U.

When it comes to the countries within the Benelux alliance, also Belgium lags dramatically behind both Holland, with its coffeeshops, pending national cultivation, and distribution system, as well as Luxembourg, now teetering on the edge of recreational reform, even if only home grow is a first step.

Belgium is the last country within the alliance where the plant remains fully illegal. That said, a person who grows a single plant in their own home, in principle, will not be prosecuted.

What is the deal?

The State of Cannabis Reform in Belgium

Cannabis offenses in Belgium are given a “low prosecution priority” as long as the perpetrator is over the age of 18, is in possession of less than 3 grams, and not considered a “public nuisance.” These are the broad guidelines followed by authorities since 2003.

CBD also falls into this legally vague space. While it is possible to buy CBD oil domestically, vendors must advise customers to search on the internet for advice on how to use it. Since 2020, CBD oil for external use can be sold in pharmacies. High THC products, like Sativex, have also been available since 2015.

As of 2018, Belgian scientists publicly concluded that the country’s cannabis policy has a harmful consequence on society. Advocates for legalization also point out that recreational reform would generate as much as 700 million euros annually (about the same in dollars right now) to the domestic economy.

Since 2006, cannabis social clubs have gained in popularity in the country. These are modelled on the Spanish clubs. Like Spain, they rely on loopholes in the law to operate. So far there have been two cases against the clubs, neither one of them leading to formal conviction.

The Belgian Labour Party—or PvdA—has a detailed plan on how to legalize the drug while also combatting abuse and addiction which includes regulation of the industry.

In April 2019, the country established a government agency for cannabis that currently holds the exclusive right to distribute medical cannabis although it is not yet active.

The Impact of Cannabis Reform Here on European Policy

Brussels, the capitol city of the country, is also the center of E.U. policy making. Given this, do not look to Belgium to make any forward-thinking moves on cannabis until sovereign reform is more established across the European Union.

That said, given the pace of what is happening this year within E.U. borders (see Germany and Luxembourg, not to mention Malta last year) as well as proximate to its borders in Switzerland, it is clear that while reform might be glacial here, the status quo will not last much longer. Even France has signed on to the idea of medical efficacy.

With multiple countries across the region, which also include both Portugal and Spain, as well as Greece and Italy now regulating at least the medical industry and, in some cases, actually progressing on the recreational side too, Belgium will follow. Even if change here trails the forerunners of progress across the continent.

However, in the meantime, there are plenty of people in this trilingual country who are eager for the government to, as the Flemish saying goes, Vooruit met de geit; colloquially it means “let’s get on with it,” even if the literal translation means “forward with the goat.”

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