Drugs chief visits cannabis farm

31 March 1999

Drugs chief visits cannabis farm

THE governments anti-drugs campaigner has disclosed he recently visited a farm where cannabis is grown for medical research.

Keith Hellawell, the governments anti-drugs co-ordinator, said that he saw five thousand plants grown in the secure glasshouse in southern England.

The government is allowing the trial because of increasing evidence that cannabis could be useful as a painkiller and in treating illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

Hellawell told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee he approved of the medical use of cannabis.