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Wacky Baccy Farm!
Cannabis on pathway
Matt Glass | Sunday People | 07/02/2006

A harmless-looking field just a few feet from a public footpath and main road is full of Cannabis.

Britain's wackiest pick-your-own farm does not have a single fence - and the massive plot the size of 14 football pitches is raided almost nightly by teenagers.

The cannabis is grown legally on the outskirts of Boreham, Essex, for its fibrous hemp content which has industrial uses.

Although the leaves are weaker than illegal street cannabis, local kids make regular raids on the field.

They dry out leaves then smoke them in the belief it will have the same effect as "wacky baccy" sold by drug gangs.

Our investigator watched the field for an hour and saw a car full of teens drive up, shouting "Stop, it's the hash field."

One villager said: "Most nights a string of youths can be seen making their way to the field. They take as much as they like thinking it's the real thing."

The Home Office grants licences for growing hemp and cannabis for research but says plants should not be in sight of main roads or where someone could easily steal them.

But the local said: "There's not a hedge, fence or even a ditch. The stuff there might not be as strong as street cannabis but it looks and smells the same. You have to smoke a lot to get a high but there's so much here that's not a problem."

One 16-year-old told our investigator he'd been arrested for carrying some of the plant but was released when police realised it wasn't true cannabis.

The farm's owner, Peter McMillan, said: "We grow the hemp for a company called Hempcor. They have a block licence for us to grow it.

"We never had any problems here except for the odd set of kids who make dens in it because it's so tall. To my knowledge nobody has ever smoked it. You could smoke a whole field and it wouldn't get you high - you'd just get a sore throat."

Mr McMillan claimed rules about not growing it near paths had changed.

But a Home Office spokesman warned: "Hemp crops bordered by a main road or public footpath without any barriers would not meet the guidelines."

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