UK legal medicinal cannabis factory protected by ex-military guards
A team of growers tend to the six-foot plants in hi-tech laboratories inside the complex at a secret Midlands location. The crop is eventually turned into medicinal cannabis.
It may look like a scene from Guy Ritchie’s hit TV series The Gentlemen, but this is actually the UK’s first ‘one-stop shop’ medicinal cannabis factory.
These remarkable photos give a rare glimpse inside the top-secret facility, where giant plants are grown by a team of experts.
A highly-trained squad of ex-military guards protect the valuable crop along with 150 CCTV cameras and razor-wire fences. The 30,000 square-feet factory in the Midlands also has bulletproof glass windows to stop intruders getting inside.
A team of growers produce high-grade cannabinoids inside state-of-the-art labs for prescription medication. They have to wear specially-made dark glasses due to the powerful LED lighting used to cultivate the crop.
The labs are constantly air-filtered to help the plants grow to over six foot tall. Each plant is fed around 12 times every day and takes five months to be ready for harvest.
They are then dried and cured to remove any moisture before being trimmed by hand and their flowers separated.
UK firm Dalgety, which runs the state-of-the-art facility, shipped its first batch of product last month.
Its site is the first in the UK that holds EU GMP certification to cultivate, manufacture and sell for distribution. Other facilities are only able to grow the drug - which is then sent elsewhere to be packaged and distributed.
The growing of cannabis for medicinal use was legalised in the UK in 2018.
Head grower Brady Green said: “Our crop cycle runs about five months in total.
About two weeks in the crop propagation stage, about two weeks in veg, and then flowering takes about seven to twelve weeks depending on variety.
“From there it takes another two weeks to dry and two weeks to cure and a little bit of time to trim.
“We recognise that true quality cannot be rushed. It is achieved through time, precision, and unwavering commitment to excellence. Once it’s packaged, we can get our product to patients in a matter of weeks.
"It’s important to discuss medical cannabis openly and break the stigma of this plant.
“It’s the opposite of evil and dangerous and hopefully it can provide a lot of assistance for people.”
Dalgety boss James Leavesley said the business produces better quality cannabis than overseas companies.
“Some of the feedback we have received from doctors was that the supply of imported cannabis can be unreliable,” he said. “There was also varying quality due to a lack of transparency of the supply chain.
“So that means that when patients are prescribed medical cannabis they get their repeat prescriptions, often it’s not available or out of stock.
“If products have to be imported it can take 12 to 20 weeks just to get into the UK.
“The benefit of being located here in the Midlands, as soon as we finish the growing cycle we harvest and slowly dry our product then pack it. From that moment it can be within a patient’s hand inside a month.
“The lighting has been bespoke-made, and we actually create artificial wind in the room to ensure there are no microclimates.”
Medicinal cannabis - which comes in oil, flower and pastille form - is prescribed on the NHS.
Those who can be considered include people with severe forms of epilepsy and adults with nausea caused by chemotherapy. People with muscle stiffness and spasms caused by multiple sclerosis may also be eligible for a prescription.
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