The drugs minister has been accused of a “massive conflict of interest” after it emerged that her husband operates Britain’s largest cannabis farm. Victoria Atkins has now stopped speaking for the government on cannabis and other aspects of her drugs brief. The Home Office said she had “voluntarily recused herself from policy or decisions relating to cannabis”. Her husband, Paul Kenward, is managing director of British Sugar, which last year started growing substantial amounts of marijuana in Wissington, Norfolk, under a licence from the Home Office, the department at which she is a minister. Growing the drug is normally illegal, with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.

Source: The Times May 12, 2018 23:17 UTC