In a campaign of mass civil disobedience, a UK producer of hemp is calling for farmers to take direct action against the country’s “unfair licensing regime” by growing hemp without a licence.
Industrial hemp producer, Hempen, is calling for farmers to grow hemp without a licence in protest against the UK’s hemp licensing regime after its latest application to grow the crop was rejected, despite following all UK Home Office guidance.
Hempen, which was founded in 2015 by activists who saw hemp’s potential to help people, community and the planet, was previously forced to destroy £200,000 of its hemp crop in 2019 when the Home Office said the producer could not harvest the flower for CBD or oil.
An “unfair licensing regime”
Hempen is encouraging small and large cultivators to grow the crop without a licence as licence applications, which are granted by the Home Office, can be refused for simple issues such as the farm being near a road or public footpath, and that decisions on applications are often made too late for farmers to get crop into their fields – making it a risky option to pursue.
Hempen’s co-founder, Patrick Gillett, said: “The UK’s unfair licensing regime has no obvious public benefit and is stifling this emergent green industry at a time when the UK desperately needs jobs which care for our communities and the planet.”
A recent paper on the Medical Cannabis and CBD market, published by Maple Tree Consultants and Mackrell.Solicitors, calls on policymakers to ‘make meaningful, progressive changes to the outdated laws and regulations hindering the industry’, and highlights that the industry could ‘create tens of thousands of jobs, and bring much needed capital to the country’.
Hempen pointed out that, although UK consumers are some of the biggest consumers of hemp and CBD in the world, most of the country’s products are imported from Europe, North America or China, and that British farmers are being penalised by their own government.
It has also highlighted that two years ago the United Nations (UN) ended the scheduling of industrial hemp as an internationally controlled substance and that, under the UN’s 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics, the whole plant is fully exempt from all the provisions when used for “industrial” and/or “horticultural” purposes. The UK is a signatory of this convention and yet still classifies industrial hemp as illegal cannabis.
Gillett added: “If the government won’t get out of the way, then it’s time farmers take direct action to grow this wonder plant without their permission.
“Hempen needs a bigger supply of organic hemp than we can currently source from farmers who have managed to jump through all the government hoops. There is more demand for organic UK hemp than the Home Office has licensed. When it comes to CBD in particular we’re forced to rely on imports.”
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