Tory MP tasked with regulating drugs has husband that grows 45 acres of cannabis

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Vulnerability, Safeguarding and Countering Extremism, Victoria Atkins MP, has come under fire over the revelations about her husband.

Campaign group Clear has revealed how the drugs minister, who fights against calls for the legalization and decriminalization of substances, is married to the managing director of British Sugar, Paul Kenward. One of British Sugar’s undertakings is growing cannabis seedlings for medicine.

Kenward’s company is in partnership with GW Pharmaceuticals, a UK biotech firm, which is developing an experimental treatment called Epidiolex, in order to treat severe forms of childhood epilepsy. However, his wife is strictly against drug use and a process of legalization and regulation in the UK. At least, in Parliament she is.

Atkins previously rallied against drug consumption rooms (DCR) – or ‘shooting rooms’ – where addicts can safely abuse substances. In a drugs policy debate in summer 2017, she said: “We are talking about gun-toting criminals, who think nothing of shooting each other and the people who carry their drugs for them. What on Earth does my Honorable Friend think their reaction will be to the idea of drugs being regulated? Does he really think that these awful people are suddenly going to become law-abiding citizens? I do not share the optimism of others about tackling the problem through regulation.”

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