Posts Tagged ‘British Sugar’
There Are Tyrants Abroad And Tyrants At Home.
The story of Alfie Dingley is covered in today’s Sunday Times. Alfie is desperately in need of a few drops of cannabis oil each day to quell his life threatening seizures. That this medicine works for him and will save his life is proven beyond doubt under the supervision of a consultant neurologist in the Netherlands
Amber Rudd can issue a licence for cannabis oil for Alfie Dingley with a single stroke of her pen. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 specifically gives the Home Secretary this power.
The procrastination, excuses and dithering are outrageous. When I met a very senior ex-minister just recently his exact words were: “The settled view of ministers is that the campaign for medicinal cannabis is just an excuse to take cannabis”.
This is the sickening truth about those who run UK drugs policy and it should make all of us think very carefully about the nature of these individuals who sit in their ivory towers in Westminster.
They proclaim that there is “no medicinal value” in cannabis and deny any access at all while the UN reported six months ago that the UK produces, exports and stocks more legal medicinal cannabis than any other nation: ‘The UK Is The World’s Largest Producer And Exporter Of Legal Cannabis But Its Citizens Are Denied Any Access At All’
And “they” includes Victoria Adams MP, the current junior Home Office minister responsible for drugs policy whose husband, Paul Kenward, MD of British Sugar, grows 45 acres of medicinal cannabis under contract to GW Pharma: ‘Victoria Atkins MP, The UK Drugs Minister, Opposes Drugs Regulation While Her Husband Grows 45 Acres Of Cannabis Under Government Licence’
Aside from the cruelty and hypocrisy, there is no other word for this conduct from our government except corruption.
If it were Putin denying Alfie Dingley access to the medicine he needs we would call him a monster. There are tyrants abroad and tyrants at home.
This is Paul Kenward, husband of Victoria Atkins MP who is the UK drugs minister. He grows cannabis for a living.
Mr Kenward is managing director of British Sugar which grows cannabis under contract to GW Pharmaceuticals at its 45 acre greenhouse in Wissington, Norfolk. As confirmed by British Sugar, the cannabis is for production of Epidiolex, GW’s epilepsy medicine which is understood to be 98% cannabidiol (CBD).

British Sugar website
Epidiolex is not yet licensed as a medicine although it is currently with the FDA for US approval and the European Medicines Agency for approval within the EU including the UK. It’s unclear how the British Sugar operation can be legal as according to the Home Office it only issues licences for research purposes. Only after the medicine has received a marketing authorisation could it be legally grown for commercial purposes.
This is Mrs Kenward, who prefers to be known by her maiden name of Atkins, in a recorded discussion with Kevin Sabet, America’s most notorious anti-cannabis campaigner who is fighting desperately to see the wave of legalisation in the USA reversed.
Victoria Atkins MP is now a junior Home Office minister with responsibility for drugs policy. She has spoken out forcefully against any form of legalisation or regulation of cannabis in the UK. She also rigidly maintains the government’s line that there is ‘no therapeutic value’ in cannabis. Of course, when it comes to her husband she takes a different view and, of course, she has authority to see licences issued entirely on her own discretion.
Ms Atkins spoke about drugs regulation in Parliament in July 2017:
Isn’t it is her husband who is exactly the person she is talking about? He seems to be doing just fine as a “law-abiding citizen”.
Together with the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd MP, other cabinet minsters, including prime minister Theresa May, who was the previous Home Secretary, Ms Atkins is running a giant cannabis cartel. As shown by the International Narcotics Control Board, the UK is in fact the world’s largest producer, stockist and exporter of ‘legal’ medical cannabis.
UK citizens are denied any access to medical cannabis at all, except in the form of another licensed GW product known as Sativex. However, in practice, Sativex is virtually impossible to obtain. It is believed that about one million UK citizens use cannabis illegally for medical purposes.
No, this is not a spoof article. This story is so incredible and outrageous that you really couldn’t make it up. Yes, the picture of Paul Kenward is photoshopped but all these facts are easily verifiable.
Victoria Atkins MP, The UK Drugs Minister, Opposes Drugs Regulation While Her Husband Grows 45 Acres of Cannabis Under Government Licence.

The UK’s New Princess Of Prohibition: Dishonesty, Hypocrisy, Corruption And Cruelty Behind A Pretty Face.
There are many examples of wilful ignorance, blind prejudice and bare faced dishonesty on drugs policy from many former and current MPs. There is no one though who plumbs the depths of deception and hypocrisy as the new drugs minister Victoria Atkins.
Her recent performance in the Westminster Hall debate on drug consumption rooms (DCR) was riddled with inaccuracies, distorted information and downright falsehood about the success of such facilities throughout the world. She simply told brazen untruths in order to support her rejection of the clamour from other MPs to introduce DCRs because they are proven to save lives. I can do no better than Transform in explaining her behaviour. Its press release sets out her lies in detail. Ronnie Cowan MP even raised a point of order and then a Home Office question about her scandalous dishonesty but as usual the government just brushed aside any criticism.
Victoria Atkins: Barrister, MP, Home Office Minister, Dishonest And Corrupt To The Core
Ms Atkins is the daughter of Sir Robert Atkins, a former Conservative MP and MEP. She studied law at Cambridge and was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1998. She has practised as a barrister and was formerly listed as a member of Red Lion Chambers. She has been appointed to the Attorney General’s Regulators Panel and the Serious Fraud Office’s List of specialist fraud prosecutors. She claims to have been involved in the prosecution of major, international, drugs gangs and that this, somehow or another, qualifies her as an expert in drugs policy.
I relate her background because it is clear that she is a highly intelligent, clever and well informed woman. This makes her dishonesty, hypocrisy and corruption all the more serious and completely inexcusable.
Ms Atkins has replaced Sarah Newton as drugs minister. Ms Newton didn’t last long, perhaps because she couldn’t stand the ridicule that she was subjected to for trying to hold the line on the government’s ridiculous drugs policy. When she tried to claim that alcohol isn’t really that damaging compared to illicit drugs, she had MPs either gasping in amazement or chuckling in amusement. Ms Atkins was clearly spotted for the job because she is one of the few MPs still enthusiastic about prohibition.
But of course, it’s specifically on cannabis that I must call Ms Atkins to account. Aside from the usual, hysterical and evidence-free claims that so-called ‘skunk’ cannabis is causing an enormous increase in mental illness, which she trots out repeatedly, she rejects any idea of regulation in drugs policy as a means of reducing harm. In the drugs policy debate on 18th July 2017 (before she was appointed drugs minister) she said:
and “I do not share the optimism of others about tackling the problem through regulation.”
However, in what must be the most blatant hypocrisy ever from a government minister, Ms Atkins benefits directly from regulation of drugs. She is married to Paul Kenward, managing director of British Sugar which is growing 45 acres of cannabis under licence in its mammoth Norfolk greenhouse. Mr Kenward is producing high CBD cannabis for use in Epidiolex, GW Pharma’s cannabis extract epilepsy medicine. Ms Atkins has tried to brush this off calling it “…a very different substance (from the) psychoactive version of cannabis.” Of course, anyone with even the most basic knowledge of plant science will know this is nonsense. The difference between different strains of cannabis is the same as the difference between different varieties of tomatoes. Whether they’re Ailsa Craig or Alicante, they’re all tomatoes.
With this latest scandal the shameful truth about UK drugs policy and the corrupt nature of this Conservative government is highlighted once again. It is difficult to believe this bare faced dishonesty can prevail in a country that was once held up as an example of honour and decency but as with so much that Theresa May has been responsible for since she entered government in 2010, we are disgraced, shamed and the electorate is treated with absolute contempt.