In a government effort to curb what is perhaps their nation’s best-known vice, Dutch households will soon receive marijuana-scented scratch-and-sniff cards to help them detect illegal urban cannabis plantations in their vicinity, the BBC isAreporting.

According to Rotterdam authorities, over 30,000 cards are being distributed this week to help citizens identify marijuana’s pungent odor. Each of the 8-by-4 inch cards, which bear the slogan "Assist in combatting cannabis plantations," contain two boxes which can be scratched to release the cannabis scent, along with the telephone number of a local police precinct.

"Citizens must be alerted to the dangers they face as a result of these plantations, and if they become aware of any suspect situations, they must report them," Arnie Loos, spokesman for a government-appointed working group on cannabis cultivation, isAquoted by the AFP as saying. "If people do in fact call the number listed on the card, we could make this a national operation."

.:huffingtonpost.com->