Sir Paul McCartney became the latest high-profile hemp advocate when he revealed he had been growing hemp during the pandemic.
Speaking to the River Cafe Table 4 podcast, the former Beatle explained how his 160-acre Sussex farm, Blossom Wood, already grows rye, spelt, wheat and pears and is now growing hemp.
Sir Paul said: “You know the funny thing is according to government regulations you’ve got to grow it where people cant see it.
“You get all the kids coming in and robbing you!”
Clearly the youth of the UK are in the know about the myriad benefits of hemp, including its use as an eco-friendly building material, its carbon-sequestering miracle properties, and its central role in the production of CBD products. Or perhaps they mistook the plant for a ‘higher’ THC variety.
Growing hemp is legal in the UK with a ‘controlled substance’ licence, but not all of the plant can be cultivated. The leaves and flowers which produce CBD oil must be destroyed after separation from the stems. This effectively halves the commercial potential of the plant for British farmers – an issue the British Hemp Alliance is campaigning to change.
Pot power: a star-studded list of cannabis advocates
Beyoncé
Sir Paul is certainly in good company – Queen Bey revealed recently that she grows her own hemp. In a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Beyoncé talked candidly about how CBD has helped her to manage the strain that performances have taken on her body over the years.
Justin Bieber
It’s hard to keep up with the seemingly constant stream of celebs entering the lucrative legal weed market, but the multi-platinum artist recently caused a stir when he announced a partnership with Los Angeles based cannabis pre-roll company, Palms.
Bieber has named his pre-rolled joint packs ‘Peaches’ – a reference to his recent hit, Peaches.
“I get my peaches down in Georgia, I get my weed from California” Bieber croons.
Anthony Joshua
A new partnership with Love Hemp announced in June put Anthony Joshua on the growing list of athletes turning to cannabis products.
The British two-time world heavyweight champion will be the face of the company that provides recovery-aiding products to amateur and professional sportspeople.
The plant must appeal after the stress of a fight as Love Hemp is already backed by Nigerian-American UFC fighter Kamaru Usman.
Sir Patrick Stewart
The Star Trek and X-Men actor invested in and joined the board of Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies (OCT) after decades of using cannabis products to treat his severe arthritis.
He has called on the UK government to make medical cannabis available on the NHS, stating that he has found it to be the only relief to his condition.
OCT’s focus is on developing products that take advantage of the endocannabinoid system to help patients deal with chronic pain conditions.
Whoopi Goldberg
The American actor is a big advocate for cannabis products and has openly vaped THC as a means of dealing with pain and glaucoma.
In 2016, she co-founded Whoopi and Maya, geared at producing accessible CBD products that promised to provide relief from menstrual cramps.
While Whoopi’s initial CBD venture sadly reached an end in 2020, she’s recently launched a line a CBD line along with her daughter, Alex Martin. Emma and Clyde by Whoopfam! is specially formulated to ease menstrual cramps and aims to normalise women using cannabis for pain relief.
Olivia Newton-John
The British-Australian actress advocates for CBD use and like Sir Paul, cultivates the plant, too. Newton-John was introduced to cannabis as a means of dealing with her cancer symptoms, and now grows them at her California property. She recently told the Today programme, “I have my days, I have my pains, but the cannabis that my husband grows for me has been such a huge part of my healing.”
