European Marijuana News Update

Europe Marijuana News

Italy: Hemp Saves Farmers Solve National Wheat Crisis

A report from The Guardian details how hemp has helped Italian farmers solve the problem brought about by the national wheat crisis, caused by cheap international imports, low wheat prices, and soil erosion.

In Italy, hemp cultivation has been legal since 2016 and what started as 400 hectares for a 2013 pilot program has now grown to 4,000 hectares as of 2018. Farmers profit an average of 250 euros per hectare of wheat, which can’t even hold a candle to the 2500 euros per hectare they earn from hemp. Additionally, hemp cultivation has also saved the farmers’ soil which has seen serious erosion after years of only growing nothing else but durum wheat.

Italy has been the world’s biggest producer of hemp until the 1940’s. But the development of synthetic fiber caused the world hemp market to collapse, a situation that worsened when drug prohibition accelerated world wide. In 1961, Italy was among the countries who signed onto the Single Convention of Narcotic Drugs, an international drug treaty that has unified laws with regards to drug prohibition. But with the recent discoveries, Italian farmers and other advocates hope that hemp cultivation may pave the way to eliminate prohibition.

Medical Marijuana Saves 8 Year Old From Ireland

Vera Twomey, mother of Ava, an 8-year old Irish child with Dravet Syndrome, has successfully obtained medical cannabis after campaigning for it to help her child, writes Calvin Hughes.

Vera was happy to share that her hard work has paid off, and now her daughter is free of pharmaceutical drugs and using cannabis instead. “Ava has become officially pharma free,” Vera tells the Irish Sun. “We were scared and excited at the same time to know what it would bring.”

Vera has been campaigning for some time now, and early this summer she spoke at the UK House of Commons to advocate medical cannabis. “The last couple of photos of Ava I think speak for themselves and as it happens so does Ava as she is singing the beginning of nursery rhymes now more and more,” she reports. “Happy and healthy as we can be we move forward better and brighter and looking forward to getting back to school,” says Vera.

Changes in cannabis legalization in Europe are driven largely by stories like Ava. Just this June, the UK government permitted a change in cannabis policy to accommodate the needs of a young epileptic boy named Billy Caldwell.

UK Cops Raid Illegal Cannabis Grows In London Every 2 Days

Cops in the UK are constantly discovering new illegal cannabis grows that are particularly rampant in southern London neighborhoods. This area is notorious for gang activity and organized crimes.

Data acquired by the London Evening Standard via a freedom of information request revealed that UK cops seized 324 cannabis grows from 2016 through 2018, which is equivalent to a new grow every two days. Cannabis farms have been found in all 32 of London’s boroughs, although most of them are found in Corydon because of the concentration of organized crime in the neighborhood.

The data also revealed that the number of grows are seeing a decline, as 2016 yielded 143 grows which dropped to 134 in 2017. This year, they’ve found just 30 although the data from 2018 is still incomplete. Countrywide grows peaked in 2012, when the cops were finding more than 20 grows a day, says a report from the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Cannabis possession is illegal in the UK, even if they are the world’s biggest exporter of medicinal cannabis. Getting caught with cannabis can mean up to five years in prison, but cultivation and distribution has harsher penalties of as much as 14 years in jail. Violating both may result in an unlimited fine.

“If somebody was caught they would be dealt with at the very lower end of the scale,” says Sara Thornton, who heads the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Thornton says that police chiefs support legalization, and they don’t consider small-time grows an important issue. “What we are most concerned about is organized crime, those growing cannabis on an industrial scale,” she says, adding that grow-ops have been associated with child labor and promote human trafficking.