Q: Is it true that some Dutch cannabis is cut with filler material in order to increase its weight and increase profits?
A: We recently heard about this for the first time. An Erowid crew member who was visiting the Netherlands had an interesting chat with a former coffee shop owner. He was told that the international demand for hydroponic "Buds from Holland" is enormous and that the shortage in the market is extreme. This seems to happen every year around this time but now the situation is more severe than ever.
He was told that in response to the shortage, vacuum sealed cannabis from the Netherlands is increasingly diluted with a still unidentified "greenish powder". According to the former coffee shop owner, the group of people who produce the adulterant have contacted most Dutch growshops already. The unknown powder is sold under the counter to growers.
The powder is supposed to be sprinkled on moist (not yet fully dried) cannabis. It absorbs moisture from the plant and then looks like THC crystals. After the buds and powder are fully dried they are vacuum-sealed, at which point it is difficult to detect that the filler material has been added. According to those who sell the material, it is possible to add 200 grams of the powder to a kilogram of cannabis.
The crew member was able to handle some of the mystery powder and view it under a microscope. It is described as looking like a bunch of tiny transparent soft crystals which swelled up and became perfectly round when water was added--as if it were a kind of powdered, water-absorbing gel. When the spheres were placed on a piece of tin foil and heated with a cigarette lighter they did not melt but burned.
We don't yet know what this material is, nor how widespread the problem is.
