Cannabis slavery right here in West Berkshire?

ON October 28, NWN reported about cannabis farm raids in both Newbury and Aylesbury. Of those arrested, three of the four were of “no fixed abode” and had very “exotic” names.

Some comments on social media were xenophobic, citing “immigrants coming over here doing crime”. Although the police investigation is ongoing, it could be that these people were slaves. Although the UK is the biggest global grower and exporter of medicinal cannabis, due to prohibition cultivation for recreational purposes is monopolised by organised criminals.

Crime gangs traffic and enslave thousands of vulnerable people in the UK (many of which are children from countries like Vietnam), with the purpose of cultivating cannabis for the illicit UK market, estimated to be worth £2.6bn.

Trafficked slaves are obviously cheap, expendable (many die in captivity) and easy to intimidate through violence and the threat of deportation. Cannabis slavery is a blight on the UK, and our local West Berks communities.

Although not perfect, Canada who legalised, taxed, and regulated recreational cannabis in 2018, do not have this problem.

Instead, government bodies properly inspect farms similar to how our government regulates alcohol production, certifying factories are safe, secure, and workers’ rights ensured.

Rather than bashing immigrants, folks should support a compassionate and evidence-based approach to UK cannabis law, which puts regulation, workers’ rights, and stifling criminal enterprise at its core.

We should be moving away from the tried, tested and failed 50-year-old policies of the “war on drugs”. MICHAEL WAKELYN-GREEN Newbury constituency Labour Party policy officer and drug and alcohol treatment professional