Three years ago, police in a British city found that a pair of old buildings had been used as a massive cannabis growhouse. Now, those same facilities will be leveled to make way for housing for students. 

When life gives you lemons, right? 

BBC News reports that the “Southampton City Council approved plans for a 250-room student housing scheme at the site, which was raided by police in 2021.”

The two “derelict city centre buildings, which were once used as cannabis factories, will be destroyed to make way for student accommodation,” according to the BBC.

The BBC reported at the time of the raid that “1,782 plants were found…in two disused commercial properties on High Street and Castle Way,” and that two men who were “initially arrested on suspicion of producing Class B drugs, were now being treated as potential victims.”

“We know that a lot people will think, it’s just cannabis, but we want to stress that any production of drugs is linked to hidden harm. Large scale operations like this are often run by organised crime gang. Those gangs are likely to engage in very serious violence involving weapons, such as firearms. They may also take advantage of vulnerable people, exploiting them or making them work in servitude,” chief inspector Ricky Dhanda of the local constabulary said in a statement back then. 

“The electrical requirement to grow this many plants is also really dangerous and can be a huge fire risk, putting neighbouring properties, and lives in danger. It is not just cannabis, it’s linked to serious criminality. That’s why we are really keen to hear from people who suspect there is cannabis cultivation or drug related activity going on their neighbourhood. Every call you make to us is logged and helps us build up an intelligence picture about what might be happening in your community. This allows us to take action and prevent your neighbourhoods from harm.”

On Friday, the BBC reported that the vacant “three-storey and four-storey buildings fronting Southampton High Street and a former snooker hall on the Castle Way side will be bulldozed.”

More from the BBC: 

“The applicant, Big Sur, said the work ‘would introduce an active frontage back into the street scene on two city centre streets. It added it would ‘contribute a significant amount of student accommodation which has been demonstrated as an identified need within the city.’ Plans would see the creation of a five to six-storey main block with 249 student bedrooms in a mix of cluster flats, studios and accessible flats alongside a second smaller three-storey complex for eight student bedrooms. The Old Town Community Forum objected to the proposal, with particular issues over the density of the scheme, the long-term viability of student housing and the design of the buildings. One of the buildings to be replaced is the site of the former Castle Snooker Club, which first opened in 1970.”

The BBC added that one group, the Old Town Community Forum, “objected to the proposal, with particular issues over the density of the scheme, the long-term viability of student housing and the design of the buildings.”

2021 proved to be a big golden age for peculiar British busts. That same year, in London’s financial district, police there discovered a massive growhouse after responding to “reports of a strong smell of cannabis.”

“A significant ‘cannabis factory’ of 826 plants has been dismantled and destroyed by officers from the City of London Police,” the cops said at the time. “The initial discovery was made on the afternoon of Wednesday 13 January, following reports of a strong smell of cannabis, and a warrant was obtained to enter the premises on Thursday 14 January.”

Andy Spooner, the London detective who handled that investigation, said that the comparatively low amount of foot-traffic in the area at the time, a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, may have played a role in the operation.

“This is the first cannabis factory in the City, no doubt being set up in response to fewer people being out and about during the pandemic who might have noticed any unusual activity,” Spooner said. “However, this demonstrates that City of London Police continues to actively police the Square Mile, bearing down on any crime committed here.” 

Then there was the discovery of a massive illicit grow operation made later in 2021 at a 17th century castle in Somerset. 

The Regina Leader-Post reported at the time that the owner of the castle, a “controversial British aristocrat” named Sir Benjamin Slade, “rented out Woodlands Castle in Somerset earlier this year.” 

“The castle is known locally as a high-end wedding venue and is situated just a few miles away from Slade’s other castle — an ancestral home that dates back to the 13th century. Woodlands has been closed for events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the outlet reported then. “Slade had offered up the castle to the U.K. government to use as a medical facility at the height of the pandemic, but the proposal was evidently declined and he ended up renting out the property instead. So far, authorities believe he was unaware of any illegal activity being carried out on the property.”

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Since adult-use cannabis passed in Missouri in 2022, the state recently divided $15 million in adult-use sales revenue to fund support services for military veterans and substance abuse treatment programs, as well as the Missouri Public Defenders budget. That amount is projected to increase to $19 million by the time the fiscal year ends on July 1.

Division of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) director Amy Moore recently said that she was pleased with the fund accumulation so far. “It is so rewarding to see the impact of this voter-approved program on organizations that provide vital services to Missourians. We look forward to watching this impact grow and are grateful to be a part of it.” Moore said.

The collection of medical and adult-use cannabis revenue in Missouri differs slightly once operational costs have been paid. The constitutional amendment that legalized medical cannabis five years ago goes directly to the MVC, whereas adult-use cannabis revenue must first pay out any fees relating to cannabis offense expungement, and the leftover amounts are divided up among the three beneficiaries.

These three groups include the Missouri Veterans Commission (MVC), Missouri State Public Defender, and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). The MVC is described as a health care and “other services” group that serves both veterans as well as their families, while the Public Defender is a legal option for low-income Missourians. The DHSS’s goal is “to operate a grant program for subrecipients to increase access to evidence-based, low-barrier drug addiction treatment prioritizing medically proven treatment and overdose prevention and reversal methods and public or private treatment options with an emphasis on reintegrating recipients into their local communities, to support overdose prevention education, and to support job placement, housing, and counseling for those with substance use disorders.” This includes maintenance of veterans’ homes and various cemeteries. 

The most recent transfer to these groups on May 17 included a total of $15,229,302 split three ways, with each beneficiary receiving $5,076,434.

In January 2024, Moore gave a presentation in front of the House Veterans Committee showing that the MVC will receive a total of $19 million from cannabis sales revenue by the time that the fiscal year ends on July 1. Furthermore, Moore estimated that next year that amount will increase to approximately $22 million. “The governor’s recommendation is quite a bit more than expected and that is tied to the unexpectedly robust sales, mostly on the adult-use side,” Moore said. 

At the time, Moore’s data showed that Missouri had collected $98,873,147 in medical cannabis revenue ($41,406,336 of which went to DCR operating expenses and $39,978,820 to veterans). The state had also collected a total of $57,743,824 in adult-use revenue so far (split between $8,152,210 for DCR operating expenses, in addition to the three sets of beneficiaries receiving $1,278,973).

The MVC has received a grand total of $39,978,820 in medical cannabis sales revenue funds since the transfer began in September 2020. During that first year, the MVC received $2,135,510, followed by $6,843,310 in September 2021, $5 million in May 2022, $13 million in September 2022, and finally $13 million in October 2023.

Rep. Dave Griffith, who is also the veterans chair committee, commented on the success of legalization so far. “The amount of sales that they’ve had with commercial marijuana has been just record-breaking and exceeded all expectations and projections,” Griffith said. “Because of that, there’s going to be even more money into that pool than what they projected right after [Amendment 3] passed.” Griffith also commented that his goal is to increase the amount of funds given to the MVC to $50 million annually, citing the need for more money to better serve veterans services. “Many of them, they’re so overburdened with their caseloads that it’s hard to get in with them,” said Griffith. “If we can increase the number we have, we can start trying to cut down on that wait time many veterans have.”

During the most recent round of funds transferred, Moore released a statement in October 2023 about the positive growth coming from the adult-use cannabis market. “It is incredible that Missouri voters passed the adult use amendment less than one year ago, and we are now starting to see the financial impact the program’s success will have on multiple organizations and the Missourians they serve,” Moore said.

At the time, MVC executive director Paul Kirchoff also provided a statement about the benefits of the program. “These funds will help MVC continue to support the existing infrastructure of our seven Veterans Homes,” said Kirchoff.

While legal cannabis continues to serve Missouri, the topic of psilocybin continues to evolve. In March, the Missouri House Veterans Committee recently passed a psilocybin legalization bill (Senate Bill 768) which if passed would allow veterans to use psilocybin therapy. 

In April, the Missouri House of Representatives approved a budget bill that sets aside $10 million in psilocybin research grants, which would come from the state opioid settlement funds. The research studies would study how psilocybin affects people with opioid abuse disorder.

Originally this also included the research of ibogaine for treating the disorder but was changed to focus on psilocybin instead. According to Rep. Cody Smith who introduced that budget bill, the switch from ibogaine to psilocybin was due to a discussion he had with the Department of Mental Health the week prior. “They had concerns about the ibogaine research they had read, and there are concerns about the dangers involved in that research,” said Smith. “However, they are interested in the psilocybin piece. And we’ve seen many other states use their opioid settlement funds to that end.”

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U.K. Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations Michael Gove admitted smoking cannabis while he was a student at University of Oxford in the 1980s, adding he “didn’t get very high.”

Times Radio podcast asked if Gove took drugs during his studies at University of Oxford, and Gove said, “Yes, I did”, adding that smoking cannabis is a “feature of the student experience for a lot of people.”

It is indeed a feature experience of college: daily cannabis use among college students increased in 2020 to a historic high.

The U.K. politician said that the weed back in the ‘80s was nothing compared to the potency of today, which is partly true thanks to sinsemilla and breeding: “If you took a look at a High Times magazine from the ’70s, you’d think our top 40 buds looked like trash by today’s standards,” Ab Hanna reported in 2017. THC levels today are cranked up in seedless, manicured buds, and concentrates as well.

“Without wanting to get too much into the policy of it, I think that the type of cannabis, marijuana that is available now will often have a far higher THC content, a far higher capacity to cause harm,” Gove added.

Asked whether he was saying that he “didn’t get very high” at university, Gove replied: “No.”

The cabinet minister went on to share his concerns about cannabis. “The other thing also is that I think that the evidence about the link between smoking too much, or ingesting cannabinoids too heavily, and mental illness and psychosis and so on, is more pronounced,” he said.

People on Twitter reacted differently to the revelations on the podcast. It’s important to note that many other U.K. former and current politicians smoked pot in the past as well, including David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Harriet Harman, Jacqui Smith, etc.

There is currently a push among the Tories and conservative leaders to make cannabis a Class A drug in the country, which would open doors for an industry.

It Sounds Familiar

You can’t help but draw comparisons to former President Bill Clinton, who also admitted on March 29, 1992 that he smoked weed during his days as a Rhodes Scholar at University of Oxford:  “I’ve never broken a state law,” he said at a political forum. “But when I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t inhale it, and never tried it again.”

However after Clinton’s first few months in office, he shifted back, mirroring the War on Drugs strategies of his Republican predecessors in the White House, and his past seemed to have no impact on his policies. This included installing the ‘Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act’ of 1994 and imposing three-strike laws for repeat drug offenders.

Cannabis isn’t the only substance in question. Years ago, Gove also admitted taking cocaine on several occasions in the past, but said he regretted those experiences after details emerged in a biography. Cocaine is also a common feature of some former U.S. presidents.

A former senior drug adviser to the government, Prof. David Nutt criticized the double standard that we often see between commoners and politicians.

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