European Union

Cannabis as a licit crop: recent developments in Europe

After a continued decline in fibre hemp cultivation and industrial processing during the post-war period, a sudden upward trend is now being noted in the industrialized world, especially in Europe. This new interest in licit cannabis cultivation stems both from a growing consumer demand for natural fibres and from the so-called “set-aside” and diversification farming policy of the European Union resulting in an intense search for profitable new non-food crops.

A hemp museum

The streets of London, they used to say, were paved with gold. Maybe that is true of the City, the British capital’s financial district, but take a walk five minutes to the east, to Shoreditch, and the surroundings are more mundane.