A hemp farm in Goring Heath is encouraging people to cultivate the plant illegally to force the government to abandon its licensing regime.
Hempen, a non-profit workers’ cooperative, was launched in 2016, but lost its Interior Ministry license to grow hemp three years later.
He has now launched the Grow Hemp campaign, which calls for an end to industrial hemp licenses.
Hemp is a variety of the cannabis plant and is regulated by the Drug Abuse Act, although it contains only trace elements THC, the component that causes users to be elevated.
Hempen grew hemp to help people with illnesses and cope with climate emergencies, as well as using it to make products such as bags, tea and cosmetics.
Hemp can also be used to make fiberboards, environmentally friendly plastic substitutes, paper, clothing, and pet bedding.
It is also used to make cannabidiol (CBD) products, such as balms, creams and oils, which are used medicinally to relieve anxiety or sleep disorders.
CBD is harvested from hemp plant flowers, while other products are made from seeds and stem.
In 2018, the Home Office made it clear that CBD harvesting was no longer allowed with an industrial hemp license, which would mean that a license would be needed to grow all types of cannabis.
Hempen, who had previously harvested his own CBD oil from the plants he grew, had to destroy them and import flowers from Switzerland.
In 2019, Hempen informed the Home Office that he had been producing CBD while the rules were unclear and was denied a license to continue growing industrial hemp. The farm had to destroy its crop, worth £ 200,000.
They were also denied a license in 2020 and 2021, meaning all Hempen products now have to be made with imported hemp instead of home-grown.
Patrick Gillett, 37, a
“We want to encourage mass civil disobedience, to get people to take direct action by growing hemp in a daily environment,” he said.
“We want people to grow their own hemp at home in window boxes.
“If the government wants to prosecute us for this, we will all go to court together. Right now we are a hemp farm with no hemp field. We asked what the public interest was for, and we received no response.
“All the government has said is the law, so we’ve responded by saying, ‘You make the law.’ Why are they criminalizing a product that has great environmental benefits?
“The UN says hemp should not be a controlled substance and the World Health Organization says there is no risk to public health from CBD and industrial hemp. Why should we apply for licenses? that are not given?
“The UK is the world’s largest CBD and hemp market, but farmers here can’t realize that market.
“Ending the collection of our own CBD affected our finances. It followed the pandemic that also lost us face-to-face sales.
“Our growth has stopped and in 2020 it has gone in the opposite direction. Last year seemed like that. “
The farm held a meeting in October to encourage people to sign up to grow their own hemp and teach them how to do it.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said: “The cultivation of hemp, a type of cannabis, requires a drug license controlled by the Ministry of the Interior to ensure the safe and legal harvesting of the plant, to protect the public of unsafe products and to prevent the illegal use of drugs “.
