Criminal Organisations

Investigations on criminal organisations doubled since 2009, whilst the number of inflicted prison sentences did not grow this fast. This observation led us to this research, in which criminal organisations are the central focus point. The aim of the research is to gain more insight in the intervention of criminal organisations and its results from multiple viewpoints: criminal prosecution as well as measures from administrative or tax law. Finally, we will propose improvements in the documentation of criminal organisations. The research is commissioned by WODC, The Research and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Safety and Justice.

Attune: Understanding Pathways to Stimulant Use

This project aims to increase our understanding of why some stimulant users (e.g. amphetamine, MDMA) initiate or increase consumption, while others reduce or stop use entirely over their life course. A range of different types of stimulant users (those in formal treatment, ‘recreational’ non-dependent stimulant users and non-users) will be interviewed. The research is part of the Eranid project 'Attune', and will be conducted across five European countries. Together with ‘De Regenboog’, the Bonger Institute will do the research in the Netherlands. The Dutch part of this European project is granted by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO /ZonMw).

Evaluation of 'Wet OM-afdoening' 

The research concerns the evaluation of the ‘Wet OM-afdoening’. This act, implemented in 2008, authorises the public prosecutor to impose punitive orders for infractions and minor crimes. This study will be conducted by the department of Criminal Law, in collaboration with the Bonger Institute of Criminology, and was commissioned by the Netherlands Ministry of Security and Justice.

European NPS study

Currently, the Bonger Institute of the University of Amsterdam is coordinating the NPS-t, a transnational project focussed on the study of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), which are a rapidly growing group of psychoactive drugs. The research will take place in six EU member states: Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Portugal. The aim of the study is to determine the extent and patterns of NPS use within three different groups of users, to collect information about supply and identify market dynamics for NPS.

[Completed, see publication]

Antenna Amsterdam - trends in alcohol, tobacco and drug use

Since 1993, Amsterdam Antenna has collected qualitative and quantitative data in order to document and analyse trends in substance use among adolescents and young adults in the city. Our panel study traces the latest developments by conducting individual, semi-annual interviews with a panel of avid nightlifers and professionals from various nightlife scenes. The focus is on trendsetters who try out new types of music, events, nightspots and drugs, or create new variations on older themes. They also lead the way as drugs or styles go out of vogue. The panel study also focuses on neighbourhood and problem youth. It reports trends, signs and rumours from all these groups, but provides no exact figures.

Our annual survey, in comparison, delivers quantitative data about substance use in specific groups: school-going adolescents, young clients of youth services, cannabis coffee shop customers, pub goers and clubbers.

Altogether, the information reported in the various components of Antenna yields a diversified picture of developments and trends in Amsterdam’s world of recreational substances.

[Ongoing annual research, see most recent publication]

Illicit Drug Policies

This research is part of the IDPSO project: an international 3-year research project in the illicit drug field, with the goal of measuring the impact that different drug-related legal frameworks have on society in seven different countries: Portugal, France, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Different countries have different views on what should be illicit concerning drugs and, therefore, enact their own drug laws and policy. Drug production, distribution and use in each country depends among other things on that county’s drug policy. The aim of this research is to contribute significantly to the ongoing discussion of drug laws and policies by studying the relationship between countries’ drug laws and policies and key social indicators by implementing, first, a state-of-the-art comparative law technique (leximetrics) that allows cross-country comparisons and, second, complementing it with stakeholders’ perceptions of each country’s drug law, with a particular focus on cannabis. This research project was selected for financing by ERANID (European Research Area Network on Illicit Drugs).