'Softer law' sparks more drug farms

Det Sgt Bob Chapman, from the drugs unit at Attercliffe police station, spoke out after the discovery of another factory yesterday.

Officers found around 100 plants, worth tens of thousands of pounds, growing in a house on Birdwell Road, Brightside, in the early hours.

Around 50 illegal cannabis factories in Sheffield have been raided in the last 18 months.

And cannabis plants alone account for 5 million of 11 million worth of drugs seized in South Yorkshire over the last year. Today, DS Chapman said the reclassification of cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug in 2004 was one of the main reasons behind the epidemic.

The decision, taken by Sheffield MP and then Home Secretary David Blunkett, meant a reduction in the maximum length of prison sentences judges are able to pass for possession from five years behind bars to just two.

Although the maximum penalty for supplying, dealing, production and trafficking Class C drugs increased from five years to 14, DS Chapman said many people involved with cannabis factories believe the law to be "softer" on it than heroin and cocaine.

It is widely believed cannabis factories started springing up when criminal gangs realised that the demand for the drug could increase with adults being less likely to be arrested for possession for personal use than when the drug was Class B.

DS Chapman said: "Since the reclassifcation we have seen a massive increase in seizures of the drug.

"It has led to more factories being set up than before and the view is that many of those involved believe the sentences available to be a risk worth taking."

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