The majority of cannabis now used in Wales is grown locally, according to an investigation by BBC Wales’ Week In Week Out programme.

Many cannabis plants have also been selectively bred, to produce a much stronger drug called super skunk.

Research shows the amount of cannabis being grown is soaring and the numbers of under-16s using it is also rising.

Some believe the re-classification of cannabis to a Class C drug in 2004 sent out the wrong message to youngsters.

The amount of cannabis grown in Wales has risen from under 10% to 60% in 10 years, according to drugs consultant Liam Watson.

Super skunk

Police raids where cannabis plants have been seized are also on the increase, with more than 100 estimated to have been carried out in the last year.

Tests on many of these plants have found they produce a much stronger strain – known as super skunk – where the main active ingredient THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is up to six times higher than cannabis resin.

This can be much more dangerous for younger users, who run a higher risk of developing mental health problems after smoking it.

I would say 99% of people have come across it once in their school life Tom Davies, former skunk user

According to the Institute of Psychiatry, around a quarter of the population are also genetically predisposed to severe psychological side effects after taking it, giving them a ten times higher risk of such problems compared with those without a genetic predisposition.

Tom Davies, from Haverfordwest, who was only 13 when he first started smoking cannabis, said smoking skunk had made him “seriously paranoid” and he isolated himself from his friends.

He also warned that the drug was easily accessible to children.

He said: “I don’t smoke it any more, but I know from still looking around me that it’s everywhere.

“I would say 99% of people have come across it once in their school life.”

According to Home Office figures, a third of all children in the UK under the age of 16 have tried cannabis and they see it as no big deal.

Colette White said her son changed completely after using skunk

But for former school head boy Matthew White, of Cardiff, drug-taking led to suicide.

The 18-year-old hanged himself after taking LSD and cannabis in the woods where he lived with his friends in a make-shift camp.

His mother Colette White said Matthew’s personality started to change drastically the moment he started smoking skunk at the age of 16.

She said: “He didn’t miss school, he completed his GCSEs, he got fantastic results and we were so proud of him.

“And it only took from then, about May or June, until the October, for it all to unravel. All his previous ambition disappeared.”

Mrs White said that lessons should be learned from Matthew’s death and that drugs education needed to start at a young age.

‘Wasted lives’

Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, believes a major re-think is needed to solve the UK’s drug problem and has campaigned for the de-criminalising of cannabis for many years.

He thinks users should be treated as patients rather than criminals.

“We’ve had this increasing toll of wasted lives, of deaths, worse than anywhere in Europe, and we’ve got to say to the politicians, for goodness sake, be a little courageous, don’t go for the easy headline or the quick vote.”

Week In Week Out was shown at 22.35 GMT on BBC One Wales on Tuesday 12 June.

Source BBC News

In a string of arrests, the latest, a Vietnamese man has being arrested by British police after a number of Cannabis farm were discovered in Swindon, UK.

Binh Nguyen received a 4 year prison sentence on the 5th of June, while his wife and 3 other men were sentenced on the 29th of May. The 43 year old man, whose wife escaped a jail sentence after the court had heard she had children aged 2 years and 8 months hold cried as he was sentenced.

Binh Nyugen was originally arrested last summer when police found a number of rented properties which had being converted into cannabis growing factories.

The prosecutor for Swindon Crown Court said

hundreds of plants were being cultivated in each of the properties by specialist hydroponics methods to increase the yields.

Nguyen had been responsible for organising the lease on houses in Haydon Street, Alexandra Road and Edgar Row Close, Wroughton, where cannabis farms were found.

The wholesale value of the yield at those properties was £18,500 at Haydon Street, £21,000 at Alexandra Road and £73,000 at Edgar Row Close.

At Mr. Nguyens home in Padstow Road, police found a range of equipment to grow the drugs as well as 88 bags of specialized fertilizer. When he was originally arrested he was carrying a bag of cannabis.

In Mr. Nyugens trial, he pleaded guilty to the cultivation of cannabis and possession with the intent to supply. The court heard in total he earned £189,990.53 but only had assets to repay £4,750.53.

Rob Ross, defending Mr Nyugen said his client had fully co-operated with police investigations.

“They are illegal immigrants. They were made in effect offers they could not refuse because they needed somewhere to live.”

Judge John McNaught said:

“A painstaking inquiry by the police revealed a network of houses in Swindon which had been adapted for the large-scale production of cannabis.”

“It is illegal and it is damaging to our society and it is the sort of organised crime that the courts in England will take very seriously.”

He jailed Nguyen for a total of 4 years and ordered that he pay £4,750.53 in the next 6 months or serve an additional 3 months in prison. The courts are also considering deportation.

Official UK figures are reporting that mental health admissions due to the abuse of cannabis have risen by over 80 percent, 65 percent of which was in the last 5 years. There were 510 cannabis related hospital admissions in 1996-97, however this has shot up to 946 in 2005-06. It is estimated over 2 million people in England alone use it on a regular basis. Thats over 1% of the entire english population.

“There is no doubt that cannabis-related psychiatric problems have increased substantially,”

said Professor Robin Murray of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

“This might be down to better recognition, but I would say these figures are just the tip of the iceberg. Its only more recently that psychiatrists have understood the importance of cannabis use.”

The figures were published by Rosie Winterton, one of the countrys health minsitors. The admissions into hospitals were related to mental ir behavourial issue due to the use of cannabis. However it was stated that the number of patients may not be accurate as one patient might have being admitted on various occasions.

“These figures show that there is an urgent need for a properly funded campaign to help young people realise cannabis use is risky,”

said Paul Jenkins, chief executive of the Rethink charity.

Offers raided the Tudor-style house on Durton Lane, Preston with search dogs, forensic teams and a police helicopter. They uncovered more than 1,000 cannabis plants ready for harvest with a street value of between £700,000 and £800,000.

The pool outhouse was fully equipped with heaters, infra-red lighting, ventilation and heating equipment all supporting a large crop of cannabis plants.

This raid then led officers to a second property in Fulwood, where they found a large number of cannabis plants being cultivated, although these plants were mainly seedlings.

Officers are now searching for the group of men and women that they believe are renting the Durton Place mansion.

Chief Inspector James Lee said: “I am speechless at the level of this discovery.

“We have had experienced search-trained officers working at the scene and they have never seen a drugs cultivation operation like this in over 20 years.”

He continued: “‘We know that the property on Durton Lane was rented to four people who have been described as oriental in appearance, two men and two women.

“We urgently want to trace them and would urge them to come forward and speak with police.”

A spokesman for Lancashire Constabulary said that neighbours had no idea of the drug den.

“They’ve said they thought the noise from the lighting and heating equipment was simply caused by machinery needed to run the swimming pool.”

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Blackburn magistrates heard that Robert Wood smoked cannabis for pain
relief while his wife, Lynne, said she benefited from its calming effects.

But prosecutor Philip Potter told the court the couple were habitual
drug users and abusers and that he had nine previous drug related
convictions and she had 11.
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Robert Wood, 36, and Lynne Wood, 39, of Infirmary Street, Blackburn,
both pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis.

Lynne Wood also pleaded guilty to possession of amphetamine.

They were remanded on bail for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Mr Potter said police executed a drugs search warrant at the couple’s
home and found four ounces of cannabis and six grammes of amphetamine.

Lynne Wood told officers the amphetamine belonged to her and the
cannabis to her and her husband.

Jonathan Taylor, defending, said Robert Wood had started using cannabis
for pain relief after he was stabbed in the leg in an unprovoked attack.

“He tends to use cannabis towards the end of the day when the pain in
his leg is at its worst,” said MR Taylor.

“He finds that nothing relieves the pain as well as cannabis.”

Mrs Wood suffered from depression, anxiety and panic attacks and found
cannabis had a calming effect.

He said she occasionally used amphetamine to help her cope in certain
situations.