60% of UK's cannabis 'homegrown'
The number of cannabis farms uncovered by police has trebled over the last few years
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Tuesday, 13, Mar 2007 09:45
Over 60 per cent of cannabis sold in the UK is grown in the country, according to the charity DrugScope.
The new figure shows a sharp increase in cannabis farming in the UK as ten years ago only 11 per cent of the class-C drug was cultivated in Britain.
DrugScope also reported that the number of cannabis farms uncovered by police has trebled over the last few years.
Chief executive of the charity, Martin Barnes, told the Today programme that aside from the larger farming-gangs, the drug is widely grown on a smaller scale. "You can now get the cannabis seeds on the internet so there's a lot of different types available," he said.
However the increasing "sophistication" of the cannabis-farming gangs could lead to health worries for users of the drug according to the charity.
Mr Barnes commented: "For the gangs, their priority [is] quick profit, move quickly, try to keep ahead of the police."
This has led some growers to spray the drug with silica "in the form of very, very microscopic glass beads to bulk up the weight which then increases the profitability for the trade".
Some cannabis smokers experienced chest pains after using the adulterated drug leading the Department of Health to issue a public health alert.
Mr Barnes added: "The glass beads might not be so small as to damage the lungs but clearly it is a contamination."