Modern slavery on UK cannabis farms | Letters

The anti-slavery commissioner has complained that data gathering for tracking victims of cannabis farms is “a mess” (Police ‘failing to tackle’ slave trafficking on cannabis farms, 25 March). It’s actually much worse than that. We have just published a study of 39 young men working on cannabis farms in conditions of trafficking and forced labour. Despite the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the judges knowing in around half of the cases that they were victims of modern slavery, and despite the commissioner stating that they are not prosecuted, nearly all were in fact sentenced to prison terms, some for as long as 20 months. This not only makes a nonsense of the statutory defence for victims, which should prevent them being criminalised, it shows how ill-prepared the criminal justice system is to address issues of modern slavery. Meanwhile, as the commissioner notes, there has not been a single prosecution of the cannabis traffickers.
Gary Craig and Patrick Burland
Modern Slavery Research Consortium

• Your article sheds much-needed light on the dreadful consequences of UK policy on cannabis. Two very important points are missing, however.

First, that this explosion in human trafficking and enslavement of teenagers is a choice made by Theresa May and her predecessors as home secretary. A legal, regulated cannabis market would eliminate this problem overnight. It could also create tens of thousands of well-paid jobsbring billions of new revenue into the exchequer, limit underage access to cannabis and reduce many other harms caused by prohibition.

Second, the horrendous treatment of these slaves by our judicial system. In most cases they are treated as criminals when in fact they are victims. May’s words about modern slavery are nothing but hot air.

The prohibition of cannabis causes great harm in our society. It denies access even for those in pain, suffering and disability. It creates and promotes a criminal market and maximises all the harms around cannabis. The UK government needs to put aside prejudice, act on the evidence and implement reform now.
Peter Reynolds
President, Clear Cannabis Law Reform

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