A 20-year-old man from Aalten was sentenced by the Zutphen court to seven months’ imprisonment, less time already served, after being found guilty of what was known as “grave-pipe smoking”.
Together with several friends, the man had made a habit of smoking hashish in a cemetery. They dug a hole in the soil of a grave, placed the smouldering drugs in it and inserted a PVC pipe leading down to the hashish.
By drawing on the pipe, they became intoxicated. According to the report, the use of graves in particular gave the drug users an additional thrill. A spokesman for Aalten police said the group had repeatedly used this method, which they had devised themselves.
The Aalten man had already been involved in this form of grave desecration before, but the court had recently given him an opportunity to improve his life. He was to undergo treatment at a rehabilitation clinic in Staphorst, but returned to Aalten after only one day.
After he soon resumed grave-pipe smoking, the public prosecutor decided to bring him before the court again. The three-judge criminal chamber then imposed the seven-month sentence.