It’s a sunny afternoon in Somerset, and I’m standing in a two-acre field of cannabis. The plants don’t smell particularly potent; they’re gangly creatures that look like a cross between a nettle and a fern. They look innocuous, but I had to secure a pass to come here, accompanied by Dr Nick Horniman, one of the UK’s leading experts on medicinal cannabis, and George Thomas, managing director of George Botanicals, a CBD products manufacturer that is part of the Sativa Group.
The plot has been approved by the Home Office for research purposes, and propagated with a low-THC strain of cannabis. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the mind-altering and illegal substance found in the cannabis plant, but nobody at Sativa Group is interested in that particular compound; they’re interested in CBD, or cannabidiol, one of the legal, non-psychoactive chemicals also found in the hemp plant.
Sativa Group PLC (NEX:SATI) is a seed to consumer medicinal cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) wellness business, focused on the smart-sourcing of the raw material, advanced extraction, manufacture, testing, distribution, and research & development of medicinal cannabis and CBD products.