Toxic aftermath: How drug cooks are destroying the environment

Half a world away from Australia’s party pill scene, Dutch park ranger Erik de Jonge is fighting his own battle – the environmental damage caused by toxic waste dumped by drug manufacturers in his forest. He took The Ripple Effect on a tour.

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Young Australians who take illicit party drugs only to then fill city streets to protest climate change are oblivious to damage the tonnes of toxic chemical waste — left by lawless drug cooks — is doing to the environment, an exasperated park ranger has declared.

The Ripple Effect toured bushland in the pleasant southern Dutch province of Brabant, about 100km southeast of Rotterdam, that is a toxic dumping ground for hundreds of criminal drug cooks churning out millions of pills in The Netherlands.

Thousands of pills cooked there are smuggled from the Port of Rotterdam to Australia and into the hands of young adults at music festivals at an extraordinary 10,000 per cent mark-up.

For every litre of MDMA cooked in a lab, 20 litres of waste product, often including potent substances such as hydrochloric and formic acid are dumped, Dutch authorities say.

Dutch forest ranger Erik de Jonge is frustrated by the damage toxic waste from the manufacturing of party pills does to the environment. Picture: Nick Franken

Tonnes of toxic waste in blue plastic barrels are pushed into creeks only to leak and contaminate the water in the Netherlands

Brabant forest ranger Erik de Jonge points a stern finger at young party people who express concern about climate change and the environment but support the lawless and toxic drug economy by swallowing ecstasy or MDMA at dance festivals or nightclubs.

“The trees, the plants are going dead,” Mr de Jonge said.

“I know there are a lot of people, young people, who are intelligent and not eating too much meat or no meat but when they have a party, they use pills and they don’t know what the impact on nature is.

“I have a lot of friends and I see a lot of young people and they are really taking care about the climate and nature and then they’re going home and having a party and using pills [but] they don’t make the [connection].

56 damning pictures of how party drugs destroy the environment

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Ventilation systems, other drug manufacturing equipment and blue barrels full of toxic waste are simply dumped in the forests of the Dutch province of Brabant.

A dead deer decomposes in the water near an illegal dump site

“People who are using the stuff of those guys have to realise that the people behind the production of these pills are so bad they’re making the nature here so bad.

“The pills made here are going around the world [and] they're making so much money from that … I see the damage of that in my nature reserve.

“Because they are making so much money from it, it looks like nothing can stop them. That’s the reason why it’s important that we have to tell the story of the damage of MDMA in nature.

“I don’t want to say ‘if you use pills you are a criminal’ but you have to know there is a very black side to the production of the pills because the criminals do not care about the environmental damage.”

Creeks are running black with noxious waste chemicals, piles of garbage bags line the roads and the bush is littered with discarded blue plastic jerry cans.

A drain runs black after drug manufacturers dumped toxic chemicals nearby

Dump and run: These plastic barrels and tank appear to have been recklessly pushed off the back of a truck. Drug manufacturers are destroying the forests of Dutch province of Brabant in the Netherlands

Dutch authorities — dressed top to bottom in a hazmat suit — are forced to clear toxic waste from scores of dump sites in the forests of Brabant in the Netherlands

The ground around this park bench had to be excavated after toxic chemical waste dumped by lawless drug cooks contaminated the area.

Dozens of photographs obtained by The Ripple Effect reveal the reckless destruction caused by the illegal dumping of chemical waste and equipment from the manufacturing of illicit drugs in the forest.

The pictures reveal discarded ventilation ducts, scores of hazardous plastic containers strewn across country roads, or thrown into waterways, contaminated streams, discarded firearms, bags of rubbish that have been clearly pushed out of a moving vehicle and onto the siding.

They also show the complex clean-up operations required by Dutch authorities to ensure the forest is safe for the general public.

The economic cost is significant — of the about 290 contaminated sites in Brabant each year, all have to be cleared at a cost of up to $130,000.

Dutch authorities must wear hazmat suits when they are forced to clean up the illegal drug cook dump sites in the Netherlands

Even Brabant forest ranger Erik de Jonge’s dog looks incredulous about the illegal dumping of toxic waste in the forest. Picture: Nick Franken

“It’s like a bomb … all the fish are dead, it’s in the bottom (of the water) so we have to clean up under the water,” Mr de Jonge added.

The Ripple Effect showed the forest destruction to young Australians who said they were oblivious to the environment destruction overseas.

“Considering I care about the environment and all of that I’m actually a little bit ashamed that I didn’t think of that aspect of the drug trade,” one young woman said.

“I didn’t know how they made MDMA to be honest.”

Another young woman added: “If people were being showed this type of footage I think that would have more of a sway than, ‘just say no to drugs’ campaigns.”

Originally published as Toxic aftermath: How drug cooks are destroying the environment