In some ways, it is a success story. A home-grown product develops such a global reputation it is exported around the world despite fierce international competition.
Last week’s report by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in the UK, noting that so much cannabis is produced in Britain that the drug is being distributed abroad, shocked most commentators.
However, the findings that Britain’s huge, secretive complex of cannabis “factories” — many in rented houses — are looking to export came as no surprise to those who monitor organized crime in the UK. They have known for some time that “growing your own” is no longer the preserve of hobbyists and hippies with access to a greenhouse.
Britain’s opportunist underworld has been quick to spot an emerging market in skunk, the most potent strain of cannabis. Profit margins are enticing. A factory can cost £20,000 (US$31,000) to establish, an outlay that can be recouped by an initial harvest within two months. In a year, a single factory can yield up to £500,000.
International policing operations have disrupted traditional smuggling routes from countries like Morocco, a historical supplier of cannabis resin to the UK. What’s more, the popularity of skunk over resin partly explains the sudden growth of cannabis factories. Strong skunk varieties carry a cachet, and a number of producers have focused their business strategy on increasing the strength of their plants.
Seeds are carefully cultivated to produce plants of steadily higher potency. For years, the Netherlands held the reputation for producing some of the strongest skunk around. Users claim that newer UK varieties have started to rival Dutch produce. Thousands of factories have sprung up in the past few years. Officers closed down nearly 7,000 in the last year. Growers have taken advantage of the recession by turning abandoned clubs and banks into factories.
The first step to large-scale production is creating the optimum climatic conditions to mimic the hot, humid temperatures that foster rapid cannabis growth. Properties are relatively simple to convert into plantations. Hydroponic equipment, easily bought over the Internet or legally from garden centers, creates the nutrient delivery and automatic irrigation systems required for rapid growth. The one pitfall for the large-scale cultivator is heat.
Hundreds of factories have been uncovered by the sustained temperatures needed to produce the crop. Neighbors have noticed that during heavy snowfalls, roofs have remained warm enough to melt the snow. In other cases, wallpaper has peeled off in adjoining terraced houses.
As recently as 2005, just 15 percent of Britain’s cannabis was home grown; by 2008, it was 90 percent, with the latest phase pointing to export. In factory terms, 800 were uncovered in 2006, spiraling to more than 6,800 from last year to this year.
So far, the biggest cannabis factory uncovered by police contained more than 7,600 plants with an estimated value of £2.5 million. History may shortly judge the Cambridgeshire factory’s production to have been modest.
REBUILDING: A researcher said that it might seem counterintuitive to start talking about reconstruction amid the war with Russia, but it is ‘actually an urgent priority’ Italy is hosting the fourth annual conference on rebuilding Ukraine even as Russia escalates its war, inviting political and business leaders to Rome to promote public-private partnerships on defense, mining, energy and other projects as uncertainty grows about the US’ commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were opening the meeting yesterday, which gets under way as Russia accelerated its aerial and ground attacks against Ukraine with another night of pounding missile and drone attacks on Kyiv. Italian organizers said that 100 official delegations were attending, as were 40 international organizations and development banks. There are
TARIFF ACTION: The US embassy said that the ‘political persecution’ against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro disrespects the democratic traditions of the nation The US and Brazil on Wednesday escalated their row over US President Donald Trump’s support for former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, with Washington slapping a 50 percent tariff on one of its main steel suppliers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threatened to reciprocate. Trump has criticized the prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting to cling on to power after losing 2022 elections to Lula. Brasilia on Wednesday summoned Washington’s top envoy to the country to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of “political persecution” — echoing Trump’s description of the treatment of Bolsonaro as
Pakistani police yesterday said a father shot dead his daughter after she refused to delete her TikTok account. In the Muslim-majority country, women can be subjected to violence by family members for not following strict rules on how to behave in public, including in online spaces. “The girl’s father had asked her to delete her TikTok account. On refusal, he killed her,” a police spokesperson said. Investigators said the father killed his 16-year-old daughter on Tuesday “for honor,” the police report said. The man was subsequently arrested. The girl’s family initially tried to “portray the murder as a suicide” said police in
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
RSS