BRITISH CANNABIS

SIR T. Smith's statement (April 3) that cannabis can be grown only
under glass in Britain is clearly untrue. It was a significant crop in
Co. Durham and North Yorkshire in Roman times, and was still being
grown in south-west Scotland in the 18th century.

I have come across perfectly acceptable "home grown", produced
outdoors in secluded back gardens in Edinburgh - and on one occasion a
healthy self-seeded specimen in a municipal flowerbed, near the city
centre.

Assuming a farm-gate price of UKP2 per ounce for the buds and
flowering tops, commercial growers in Britain could expect a gross
income of at least UKP2,500 per acre - which compares pretty well with
any other crop that can be grown in this country.

Allowing for a reasonable mark-up for the retailers and a 200 per cent
tax, British consumers could easily be supplied with locally produced
cannabis for less than UKP10 per ounce.

The trade in illegal drugs is arguably the most inefficient commercial
activity in the world - in that at least 95 per cent of the eventual
street price consists of "distribution costs" incurred as each
individual dealer adds his handling fee, as the drugs pass along the
chain from producer to consumer.

BILL FARRELL
Blaydon, Tyne & Wear