Interview: A Dutch cannabis grower

Although it is tolerated in The Netherlands that coffeeshops sell small amounts of cannabis, the cultivation of cannabis is still illegal in The Netherlands. This means that coffeeshops have to buy their cannabis from growers which are seen by the government as ‘criminals’. But who are those growers? Are they really criminals? Do they make a lot of money? How did they get into the business? Do they sell directly to the coffeeshops?

We asked a grower everything you always wanted to know…

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You don’t know me and your hobby is illegal. Why do you want to talk to me about this in the first place?
Well, first, it isn’t a hobby anymore. These days it’s just work. But OK. In this case I don’t see a problem talking to you. You got in contact with me somehow. But you still don’t know who I am, you don’t know where I live, you don’t know where my plants are, my name is probably not even the one you think it is. I can’t think of any way how you could get me in problems.

Many thanks for your thrust in this. But why should I actually believe you? Maybe you’re a very good story teller for all that I know...
That’s true. That might be possible. But that’s up to you. You’re the reporter here, you should keep the truth separated from the wild stories. If you think I talk crap you should put your time in something else. I can’t prove I’m a grower; I’m not going to take you with me to my growing room if that’s what you’re aiming for.

I understand that of course. Let’s begin… Am I talking here to a small fish or a major player in the cannabisworld?
Haha, yes, I definitely play in the NBA of cannabis. No, kidding here. I’m not a small fish, but I’m certainly not a big player. Small fish grow for themselves and friends. The big players have control over complete neighborhoods and smuggle it to other countries. I don’t know where I am at the ladder of cannabiscultivation, between those 2 somewhere probably.

How did you get into the world of cannabis growing?
Just the same as everybody else: I needed the money. I started about 8 years ago. I was studying at the time and I was always broke. At one moment one of our housemates moved to another place, so a room got empty. At that moment we were left with 3 people, all studying, all broke, all loving cannabis. And then the room got empty. In the beginning we were planning to get somebody else in the empty room. Until we had no money to buy any weed. 2 weeks later we had a growroom in full process. We got the money for it through a loan. We paid the loan back with the money of 2 harvests. First we sold it all to a guy from our school, later on I got in contact with the owner of a coffeeshop who was willing to buy it from us. That were my first steps. A good start I have to say…

How did you continue from there?
After about a year the other 2 guys already got fed up with the situation. It was too much stress for them. And they just wanted to do other things. I decided to go through. And I decided to do it serious now. I rented a house especially for this reason and I completely filled it from bottom to top with plants. Man, you should have seen that place. Heaven on earth. But it was set up way too big. I was almost not able to handle it anymore. Soon I realized it got a bit out of hand. The house was in a busy, old and shaggy neighborhood and I was coming and going with my van all the time. It must have been so obvious. Stupid naïve me. I still can not believe that I got away with that at the time. That situation lasted for almost a year. Then I rented a smaller place outside Amsterdam in an industrial area. This was a perfect place for a few years. Then the owner of the place found out about my activities. In most cases this means you’re fucked. In my case the owner was an old hippie who had no problems with cannabis in general. But because it is still illegal he had huge problems with it because it was done in his place. He gave me a hint that if I just left in a normal way he would not call the cops. What a guy… So I cleaned the place the next few days. It took me about a month to get a new place in that same area. A week later I found a second good spot in another industrial area which I also rented. But no matter how perfect some place is, these days I never use the same place longer then 2 years.

Can you tell me how many girlfriends you have?
At the moment I have about 1000-1100 plants divided over those 2 locations. I don’t have only female plants by the way. I also have some male plants for seed production.

That’s an impressive number. You can’t do that all by yourself I think?
No, that’s too much. During the grow cycles I can mostly take care of all the maintenance myself. But when it’s harvesting time I need a lot of help. The cutting of so many buds of so many plants is just too much to take care of all by yourself. This mostly means that I invite 3 - 4 close friends. For some money, a few joints and a nice bag of cannabis to take home they’re always willing to help me out once and a while.

What did you mean exactly with seed production?
Well, what I say: producing seeds. I sell these seeds to a seed vendor. This is a bit a hobby project of mine which got a bit out of hand lately. I was already in love with the cannabis plant since I discovered it for the first time, but this love changed into a obsession when I started to grow myself. It's fantastic to grow cannabis and creating the best genetics. It's fantastic to realize that people grow their own cannabis at home with some seeds which find their origin in my own hands. When somebody is in Amsterdam, they have to smoke my stuff. And if they want to grow some Amsterdam ganja themselves at home, the seeds have to come from me. That's my goal.

Are your plants all from the same strain?
No. I grow 2 different strains: the White Skunk and the Big Bud. These are both Indica/Sativa hybrids. I have tried a lot of strains, but these 2 have never let down. Somehow I have a special relationship with these 2. I will stick to this winning couple.

Do you still sell it directly to the coffeeshops?
Yes. I sell my cannabis directly to 2 coffeeshops here in the center. The White Skunk goes to both of them, the Big Bud I grow exclusively for one of them.

Exclusively?
Yes, exclusively. My White Skunk is fantastic, but my Big Bud is the Bomb. Every shop needs at least 1-2 perfect strains for commercial reasons. There’s nothing better for a shopowner if people spread the word like “The Big Bud in that shop is amazing, you can’t miss that!” And my Big Bud simply does that. The owner of that one shop is a good friend of mine. He always pays me the highest price, and I take care of a product which gets people into his shop. A good deal for both.

Are you getting rich from this?
Damn, no. I’m too small to get rich from cannabis. Don’t get me wrong here. I make a nice living like this and I make a lot more if I would have some regular job at some office somewhere. But still, it does not make me rich.

Did you ever get busted?
(knocks on the table 3x) No. And I’m not planning to. But you never know.

Are you not getting paranoia sometimes? You still have to do your work very discretely. And if you get busted, with so many plants, the cops will be real happy to give you a hard time.
Paranoia is a bit too much to say. But I definitely always have some kind of ‘sharpness’ over me. Especially when I’m at work all my senses are working at full speed. I also take the necessary precautions of course.

What do you mean by that?
There are so many things to think about. But the most important thing is: keep sharp and low profile. Nobody can exclude the possibility to get busted, but some people get busted in such stupid ways that it is hard to believe. I recently heard from a guy who had in his car a garbage bag full of cannabis on his passenger seat and he had a joint in his mouth and then he goes on the road. A police car drives by, they see his joint (while he’s driving, yes, that’s illegal here), and of course pull him over. How stupid can you be? If I have a few kilos of cannabis to take to the coffeeshop, I’m an angel in traffic. I’m not going to take the chance to be pulled over for crossing a speed limit, while I’m transporting illegal stuff… I just try to be low profile and work discretely. I also have an alarm system on my growing rooms and things like that. When somebody comes in when I’m not there an alarm goes off, which in that case means I get an automatic sms on my mobile. Then I know I have to watch out with that location.

Do you see yourself as a ‘criminal’?
Yes and no. I love cannabis and in my opinion it’s ridiculous that this plant is illegal. Seeing it like that I can’t see myself as a criminal because I don’t see the bad thing behind it. On the other side, because it’s illegal, I’m forced to act like a criminal. I can’t do my work freely. So when I have a kilo in my bag I know I’m doing something which is illegal, so that gives the whole situation automatically some kind of ‘criminal’ tension.

Are you planning to continue for a long time with this job?
To be honest; I don’t know. I got into it very suddenly, it might be I will quit with it very suddenly also. But at the moment it is my main income and it’s not that I can quit with it tomorrow. I have my financial responsibilities also. But I don’t think I will go on and on and on.

In the beginning of the conversation you described the big players as people who are controlling complete neighborhoods. What did you mean by that?
Just as I say: they control complete neighborhoods, well, almost. But these are not just a few people, these are organized… companies. The large scale production of cannabis is very profitable. And there are many neighborhoods where all the people are struggling for a piece of bread on the table every day. These companies approach people in these neighborhoods and show them some possibilities to make their position a bit better. The companies take care of the equipment and the knowledge. The people in the neighborhoods take care of an empty room in the attic. So 1 + 1 = 2. When it’s harvesting time the cannabis goes to the company and the people get a profitable sum of money. And if that goes smooth, the neighbor wants it too, make some money… So the company fills the attic there also and so they infiltrate in complete neighborhoods. There becomes a problem when the people get busted by the police, of course the company will not be there to cover their ass. They will be gone and not show up again. Another problem is when they want to stop with it. The company will not be happy; they miss income and everybody who knows is a risk… When you get involved with these guys, it’s difficult to get out of it again.

You’re describing the ghetto here with criminal gangs. Are you not going a bit far here?
No, I’m not. Look. We don’t have real ghettos in The Netherlands, but we do have neighborhoods here where not everything is as it should be. And the people there don’t care if they have some illegal plants in their home as long it makes some money. And in general you can say these people often have an authority problem, so talking to the police is not in question.
An example… a few years ago a friend of mine wanted to enter the street he lived in. In a neighborhood I just described… The street is completely blocked by the cops. Nobody in, nobody out. Later, it turns out that in that one street 11 growing rooms were discovered by the cops. 11 in one street… Do you think these people all go as individuals to different coffeeshops to sell it? Hell no. One guy comes to pick it all up and the company takes care of the further distribution. Easy as that. These guys are good in what they are doing, but it goes a bit too far for me though. I just stay with my own 1 or 2 places. Independent and completely controllable by myself, not too much involvement from other people. Perfect.

It’s time for my last question: Are you finally going to roll a joint with your famous Big Bud or what?
Haha, sorry mate, but I’m not. But here’s a nice bag for you with something fresh.

Haha, OK! Shall I roll then?
That sounds good to me.