Philips staff threatened by grow light buyer
Several Philips employees have recently received serious threats. These threats came from a former grow light buyer who wanted to use the lights for cannabis cultivation. Under Philips' new policy, they will no longer supply to intermediaries who use the lights for cannabis cultivation. The buyer was unhappy about this.
Cause
Philips stopped supplying the HPS grow lights to the customer because the buyer was clearly using them for cannabis cultivation. Two years ago, Philips decided that it would no longer supply lights if it was clearly intended for cannabis cultivation. The customer was not very pleased with this and decided to pressure Philips employees to obtain the grow lights.
Threats
The threats primarily took place at the employees' workplaces in Eindhoven. Later, the threats escalated to the point that some employees were even threatened at their homes. Following these threats, the employees decided to make an agreement to supply a batch of grow lights. When Philips refused to deliver the next time, the threats continued.
Possible consequences
There is currently discussion about banning grow lights as a result of these incidents. How such a ban would be implemented and enforced is, of course, still unclear. It would be very difficult to ban lights that are also commonly used in greenhouse horticulture for growing tomatoes. In any case, a ban on Philips grow lights would be a major setback for all growers in the Netherlands!
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