DEALERS GET DESPERATE AS DRUG SUPPLY DRIES UP

Drug dealers are under pressure from a nationwide police blitz on
cannabis farms. The clampdown, which has targeted farms producing
potent 'skunk', has seen prices almost double in some cities,
according to Drugscope, the drugs awareness charity, which calculates
street values based on interviews with dealers.

The latest issue of the charity's magazine, Druglink, has found some
dealers so desperate to replace their supplies they are offering
customers cash for the use of a spare room in which to grow the drug.
'Just two months ago you could buy in bulk, say three kilos. Now
you're lucky to find more than a half kilo for sale,' said one dealer.

In Birmingham, prices are said to have doubled in the past two months
with the price of a kilo of cannabis skunk rising from UKP1,000 to
between UKP1,800 and UKP2,000.