'FARMERS SHOULD GROW CANNABIS '

Beleaguered British farmers could make money by growing cannabis as a cash
crop, a Labour MP suggested today.

Cardiff Central MP Jon Owen Jones, whose Legalisation of Cannabis Bill is
due to be debated in the House of Commons next week, said that the drug
could provide a "hardy cash crop" for British farmers, left on their knees
by foot- and-mouth disease, BSE and tumbling dairy prices.

His suggestion came as Lord Haskins, rural recovery co-ordinator and
chairman of Northern Foods, published his long-awaited report arguing that
farmers need short-term financial aid this winter.

Lord Haskins was also expected to say today that farmers should be more
entrepreneurial, using the internet to buy and sell animals.