Growing cannabis for medicine

Available for over a year

Charlotte Smith visits a glass house where a tomato grower and a chemist have combined their expertise to set up a state-of-the-art nursery producing medicinal cannabis. James Duckenfield and Richard Lewis saw an opening in the market for high tech, high quality production of the crop, which is grown under licence, with the process closely regulated by the Home Office. At a secret location in the English countryside, thousands of cannabis plants are cultivated and harvested every day. The facility produces flowers for pharmaceutical use and cost £26 million to set up. The end product is prescribed by doctors privately, for pain relief and things like epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, but it’s not available on the NHS. Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Rebecca Rooney for BBC Audio Bristol.