A Frisian man who was convicted of growing marijuana in 2015 has been told he does not have to pay almost €500,000 to the Dutch state by appeal court judges in Leeuwarden. The public prosecution department had gone to court to get the cash which it says Doede de Jong had earned from cultivating the soft drug. But the court ruled that the department had failed to show how it had calculated such an amount and not taken into account the fact that De Jong used organic methods. ‘There was no question of fire safety issues or electricity theft,’ the court said. Nor was De Jong involved with criminals who produce cannabis.