MDMA garden gnome makes a sensation
28 November 2024
Dutch police made an unusual discovery last week: a garden gnome made entirely of MDMA, the illegal substance used to make party drug ecstasy. "We know drugs come in all shapes and sizes and many of those don't come as a surprise to us, but this one is special," the police said.
Weighing nearly two kilos – enough to produce 13,000 pills – what has been dubbed the "MDMA gnome" was found hidden among a stash of intercepted drugs. Unsurprisingly, this happened in Noord-Brabant, a region known as the "drugs barn of Europe" due to its high concentration of illegal labs producing synthetic drugs.
The Netherlands is Europe's top producer and consumer of MDMA, and calls for legalisation have been growing. A state commission recently found that its use is relatively safe but advised against legalisation as long as it fuels organised crime. The country has been grappling with the fallout from the illegal drug trade in recent years, including targeted killings, youth involvement in crime, money laundering, and illegal waste dumping.
 | Nathan Domon Drug busts hit the news almost every week in the Netherlands, usually as a grim reminder of the country's drug trade. But this one? It had people cracking up, shared all over group chats and social media. And now everyone's left wondering: how was this MDMA gnome made, who was it for, and – more seriously – why? |
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