The production of cannabis used to be associated with far off places such as Morocco and Afghanistan. In the UK it is more likely to be grown here. Know as Skunk, and sporting a far greater hit then the resin varieties of yesteryear, (Analysis of recent homegrown hauls detected THC levels as high as 20%, nearly seven times higher than samples of imported resin, which used to be the predominant form of the drug on the streets, and typically contain around 3% THC,) it's big business and mainly run by Vietnamese gangs, and more often than not, run from a rented suburban home.
"A decade ago 11% of cannabis sold on the street was grown in the UK. "Now more than 60% is produced in Britain and we are currently finding two to three factories in London a day. This is a growing crime problem across the country." said a Police Inspector involved in raids in Hertfordshire. Due to Police in London cracking down on the farms, production has spread to counties around the UK.
Typically a house is rented from an Asian landlord in a perfectly ordinary suburban street, the windows blacked out, and nobody ever seen coming, or going. Inside is a very different story. The gangs tap into the electricity supply before the meter and rewire the house with heavy duty cable powering sodium lamps which provide sunlight to the crop. Looking after the needs of the plants is a 'gardener', often a young illegal immigrant, working from a recipe of daily feeding requirements with only cigarettes, porn movies and a buddhist shrine for company.
The raid I went on with Cambridgeshire police netted a crop worth £70,000. With a 12 week turn around for the 200 plants, this house had the potential to produce £750,000 per year. Lucrative indeed, and with very little risk for the gangs controlling the operation.
In Canada there was a similar explosion of Vietnamese controlled farms. The experience there suggests that methamphetamine is never far behind.
One organisation benefits from the Police raids; the local council receive the sodium lamps, to use in street lights.
Mail on Sunday article here.
Licence raid and cannabis plants photographs here.
