MPs’ high time at cannabis farm
They go with lobbyists... then say drug will be legalised (and one even tries it!)
THREE MPs sparked fury last night for visiting a cannabis farm in Canada with lobbyists who want the drug legalised in the UK.
Wearing lab coats, hair nets and face masks, Tory MP Jonathan Djanogly, Labour’s David Lammy and Lib Dem Sir Norman Lamb posed at a facility in Toronto that generates £1million in revenue from the drug each year.
Sir Norman became the first serving MP to openly take a cannabis product on camera after trying a liquid form of the drug.
And at the end of the three-day fact-finding trip, the MPs preenough dicted that cannabis use in the UK would be fully legalised in five to ten years. Mr Djanogly had his £6,000 trip paid for by pro-cannabis campaign group Volteface.
Mr Lammy and Sir Norman paid for themselves. However, the cannabis conference they attended, which praised the Canadian government for legalising the drug for recreational use last year, was paid for by the lobbying group.
Medicinal cannabis was legalised in Britain last November but the Government says it will not do the same for street cannabis.
Last night the MPs were labelled ‘useful idiots’ for agreeing to go on the overseas trip.
David Raynes, of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, said: ‘Big companies involved in the production of marijuana want to get into the UK market and get the drug legalised. They will pay, invite and use anybody foolish to get involved in the cannabis legalisation debate.
‘I’m cynical of anyone who is invited to a so-called fact-finding mission by a group that wants to legalise the drug. Sadly, they are just useful idiots.’
Mr Djanogly accepted flights, transfers, food and accommodation worth £5,890 from Volteface for last month’s trip. The lobbying group is a staunch supporter of cannabis legalisation in the UK and is partly funded by MPX International – a Canadian company which produces the drug. Both Sir Norman and Mr Lammy support legalisation, while Mr Djanogly said he remains open to the idea in the future. He said: ‘We have got a lot to learn before the legalisation of recreational cannabis, which I think will happen at some point. I think we’re on a ten to 15-year cycle which would mirror what has happened in Canada.’
Sir Norman was filmed by BBC’s Newsbeat taking a cannabis oil sleep remedy containing the psychoactive ingredient THC. He carried some of the oil on the flight home. ‘I had my science and technology select committee to chair the next day so I needed a good sleep,’ he said. ‘I took the drops and slept very well on the plane.’
Sir Norman put the rest of the bottle in a bin in the aircraft toilet to avoid breaking the law once he landed in the UK.
In England and Wales, around 10 million adults aged 16 to 64 have tried the drug at least once, according to crime figures.
Mr Lammy said: ‘I want the market legalised and regulated, taken away from criminal gangs. But I want to see the strength of the stuff reduced, labelled and properly organised in our country.’
The Home Office said it ‘has no intention of changing the law’ on cannabis.
‘Sadly, they are just useful idiots’