A British policeman who sparked an ‘international police response’ after suffering a cannabis-induced hallucination in which he believed his ex-wife was out to kill him.
PC Jack Waeghemacker stopped off in Holland while on his way to France to smoke cannabis in April 2025, but he experienced a bad high after taking three puffs of a joint he bought at a coffee shop.
The officer was travelling to France to sort through his parents’ belongings after tragically losing both of them three months prior, and decided to book an Airbnb in the Dutch city of Tilburg.
He checked into his room, ate dinner, and went to Pasja coffee shop in Tilburg, one of the several municipalities in the Netherlands trialling supplying cafes with drugs from regulated producers in an attempt to tackle the black market.
Waeghemacker bought the first joint on the menu, called the Haze joint, and returned to his Airbnb, but began to feel ‘paranoid’ after having a bad reaction.
After having thoughts that his ex-wife was planning to kill him, he then called his friend and colleague in Hampshire Constabulary and told her he was thinking of ‘killing himself’.
She recorded the conversation, while alerting a police supervisor, and rang 999 to try to help Waeghemacker, which triggered an ‘international police response’ involving Dutch police, the French Embassy, and Interpol.
He has now been given a final written warning at the Hampshire Constabulary misconduct hearing for a maximum of five years for committing gross misconduct by taking an illegal substance.
PC Jack Waeghemacker stopped off in Holland while on his way to France to smoke cannabis in April 2025, but he experienced a bad high after taking three puffs of a joint he bought at a coffee shop
Waeghemacker bought the first joint on the menu, called the Haze joint, from the Pasja coffee shop in Tilburg (pictured) and returned to his Airbnb, but began to feel ‘paranoid’ after having a bad reaction
The misconduct hearing at the force’s HQ in Eastleigh heard that PC Waeghemacker had been through a divorce in 2023 and lost both his parents, who lived in France, in January 2025.
The officer was found to have committed ‘discreditable conduct’ for making the decision to divert his trip to France and travel to the Netherlands to ‘intentionally’ purchase and take the Class B drug.
According to the Netherlands government website, cannabis is not technically legal, but is tolerated under strict conditions for people over 18 in an attempt to manage and regulate the supply.
It is illegal to possess, sell, or produce drugs in the country.
The chair of the panel, Tony Rowlinson, Assistant Chief Constable, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, said that Waeghemacker had committed gross misconduct through his intention to travel and smoke cannabis, which is illegal in the UK.
He said that Waeghemacker’s conduct had ‘discredited the police service’ and ‘would undermine public confidence in it’.
Mr Rowlinson said that PC Waeghemacker was ‘genuinely remorseful’ and had apologised at an early stage.
He added: ‘The guidance specifically mentions “stress that may have affected the officer’s ability to cope with the circumstances in question” and the panel does acknowledge that this applies squarely to the officer’s challenging personal circumstances at the time.
‘The personal mitigation in this case is quite unusual and the cumulative effect must have been very significant.
‘This was an unenviable and exceptional set of circumstances.’
Stephen Morley, representing Hampshire Constabulary, previously told the panel that PC Waeghemacker had acted ‘illegally’ by buying and smoking the cannabis.
He said: ‘The officer specifically travelled to the Netherlands to smoke cannabis.
‘He knew it was illegal here and he couldn’t do it here, so he specifically travelled to the Netherlands.
‘Even at the time, the officer knew what he was doing was wrong, and he was in two minds about what he should do, and he accepts it was a stupid thing to do.’
