A large study into the motivations of Groningen youth for using drugs aims to help reduce the nuisance caused by drug use in the city. The research is being conducted by seven students commissioned by the municipality.
Students in Groningen consume significant amounts of drugs, spending an estimated fifty million euros annually. While the level of drug use is comparable to that in larger cities like Amsterdam or Rotterdam, Groningen is much smaller.
This first became evident in a major study of the city’s wastewater conducted by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in 2022. A follow-up study in 2024 showed little change, with cocaine and cannabis being the most commonly used substances.
The Groningen city council is concerned. The research by students from the career minor of the Faculty of Arts aims to provide the municipality with better tools for developing policies.
Bible belt
The students feel personally connected to the topic. Researcher and history student Martijn Thom Weening recalls how surprised he was by the widespread drug use around him after moving from Harderwijk to Groningen. ‘That was the Bible Belt’, he says. ‘Drug use is much less common there.’
His colleague, Tessa Pino from Campus Fryslân, had a wake-up call after deciding to stay longer at a café following a pub quiz, instead of heading back to the train station. ‘It turned out to be a good thing because just when we would have been walking there, a major explosion occurred on Herestraat. It was later linked to the drug circuit’, she explains.
Discovery
The students mainly want to find out why young people use drugs and how they do so. The goal is explicitly not to reduce drug use but to limit the associated nuisance. ‘The city council, for instance, is considering its stance on a manifesto that calls for a more realistic drug policy’, says Weening.
This manifesto, supported by various societal organisations and municipalities, argues that the current drug policy is a dead end. It advocates for a more pragmatic approach and a regulated drug market to curb criminal activity.
Awareness
The research could also help the municipality understand which measures might influence youth behaviour. ‘For example, if they promote awareness of the consequences of the cocaine trade in South America, it won’t be effective if students don’t care about that’, Pino points out.
‘Students often blame the system’, Weening adds. ‘They that they didn’t choose to make cocaine illegal.’
‘It can also have unexpected consequences’, Pino notes. ‘Hearing so much about drugs might actually make people more inclined to use them.’
Would you like to help with the research? You can find the questionnaire here (or scan the QR code in the illustration)