Licence for London-based Dragonfly Biosciences
London-based Dragonfly Biosciences Ltd has announced that it has secured a licence to create CBD oil, and will begin the production and distribution of medical cannabis early in 2019, when it will also begin to approach Clinical Commissioning Groups. The firm produces the drug at huge open-air farms in Bulgaria.
The UK is already Dragonfly’s biggest market for cannabidiol food supplements. The company’s grower in Bulgaria harvests their 420-hectare crop every September, producing around 232,000kg of plants – or six million units a year. It then ships to its medicinal facility in Malta to produce CBD products.
Agoraphobic brothers in Cardiff cruelly punished
Two brothers with agoraphobia who grew cannabis to treat their mental health condition and so that they didn’t have to go outside to buy it have been cruelly taken to court after a police officer smelled what they were growing as he passed their house in Cardiff.
They pleaded guilty to production of a controlled drug of Class B. Despite recognising that they had “significant mental health problems”, judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said she was persuaded to impose a community order on the two defendants. Both were both sentenced to a 12-month community order and to undertake a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement.
They were also made subject to an electronically-monitored curfew for six weeks and ordered to pay £300 in court costs between them. The court ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the plants and relevant equipment.
CBD beauty products boom
According to Brightfield Group, a company that specialises in cannabis and CBD market research, CBD is the “next hot, functional beauty ingredient”.
Due to the increased interest in cannabis for medicinal, recreational and cosmetic use, the global CBD industry is expected to reach an estimated value of $22bn (£16bn) by 2022.
Cop who ate evidence and got high labelled ‘complete idiot’ by judge
A Toronto police officer who ate a marijuana-laced chocolate bar seized in a pot shop raid has pleaded guilty to attempting to obstruct justice after the judge called him a “complete idiot” for tampering with evidence.
Const. Vittorio Dominelli took three hazelnut chocolate bars infused with cannabis oil from the raid. He and another officer later ate one chocolate bar and became intoxicated in about 20 minutes… and eventually radioed for help!