There will be an investigation into drug problems in Aa and Hunze. The mayor and aldermen want to find out whether the municipality’s image of drug use is correct.
According to Mayor Anno Wietze Hiemstra, figures from addiction care and the police, for example, do not show that excessive amounts of drugs are used in Aa and Hunze.
“But you sometimes get the feeling that we are seeing everything,” says Hiemstra during tonight’s council meeting. “If you look across the municipal and provincial borders, things have happened that you don’t want.”
The mayor is referring to recent incidents in the Drenthe-Groningen border area. After a football match between VV Annen and VV Musselkanaal, a photo emerged from the team bus of the Groningen club, showing a player cutting cocaine.
In the neighboring municipality of Borger-Odoorn there is an emergency debate tonight about drug use in the municipality. Three young people from Valthermond recently ended up in a rehab clinic.
For Gasselternijveen football club, parental concerns were already a reason to implement a zero-tolerance policy with regard to drugs. Players caught using drugs may be suspended for a year.
Almost all parties in the municipal council of Aa and Hunze are concerned about the use of drugs in their own municipality, as became apparent during the council meeting this evening. These concerns are mainly based on signals that council members receive from their own environment.
“You see it around you. If you are known in your village, you hear and see that all kinds of things are happening,” says councilor Jacco Fluks (VVD). He wants to know from the mayor whether the drug problems in a rural municipality like Aa and Hunze are being taken into account.
Mayor Anno Wietze Hiemstra says that the subject was discussed during the last meeting of the local triangle (mayor, police and Public Prosecution Service). He also promises that there will be an investigation into drug use in the municipality. The mayor does not yet know exactly what that will look like.
“Maybe we should just talk to schools, parents and sports clubs. Sewage research could also be an option. In any case, we will look into it,” says Hiemstra.