Police are seizing 1,000 cannabis plants a day – but prosecutions for growing the drug have plummeted.

A total of 366, 841 plants were recovered last year in England and Wales. In the same period the number of criminals hauled to court for cultivating marijuana dropped by 40 per cent.

Anti-drugs campaigners accused police of going soft on cannabis offenders and allowing them to ‘laugh at the law’.

Figures published by an insurer show the West Midlands is the cannabis-growing capital of Britain, with an average of 150 plants a day seized by the authorities – 15 per cent of the UK total.

More than 54,700 marijuana plants were confiscated there in 2015, dwarfing the 38,369 found by Scotland Yard in London.

This sheep wool not stop!

Residents of the South Welsh village of Craig Cefn Parc have been terrorized by a group of sheep that possibly ingested cannabis before going on a rampage. Or to be more accurate, a sheep-page.

Members of a flock have been breaking into residents' homes and gardens and County Councillor Ioan Richard worries that the rest of the group may discover the discarded remains of a nearby cannabis plantation.

"They are getting in people's gardens and one even entered a bungalow and left a mess in the bedroom."

New figures show more than 1,550 people were referred for treatment for cannabis use in Wales in the last year.

Alcohol problems still amount to more than half of all substance misuse cases in Wales, according to Public Health Wales.

Heroin accounts for nearly a fifth of cases.

But is cannabis - just under 10% of cases - something we should still be worried about in Wales? 

HOW MANY ARE USING CANNABIS?

New figures show more than 1,550 people were referred for treatment for cannabis use in Wales in the last year.

Alcohol problems still amount to more than half of all substance misuse cases in Wales, according to Public Health Wales.

Heroin accounts for nearly a fifth of cases.

But is cannabis - just under 10% of cases - something we should still be worried about in Wales?

HOW MANY ARE USING CANNABIS?

An Australian state is investing millions of dollars into testing the effectiveness of medicinal marijuana.

The New South Wales (NSW) State Government has pledged 9million (£4.4million) Australian Dollars over four years to trials which will involve children with severe epilepsy and adults with terminal illnesses. Patients undergoing chemotherapy who are suffering with extreme nausea and vomiting will also take part, Australia’s 9 News has reported.

Past-year data in England and Wales shows a drop off in drug policing. But, with figures still well above where they were a decade ago, and an abundance of evidence showing that policing possession has little impact on use rates, why is the government still funneling resources into this futile practice? 

Cannabis should be legalised for medical use, according to Wales Green Party leader Pippa Bartolotti.

Ms Bartolotti will make the case for a change in approach in a speech at Cardiff University on Thursday night.

Legalising cannabis has been Green Party policy for some time.

Ms Bartolotti said: "No one has yet died from using cannabis, in fact the health benefits of cannabis in the treatment of epilepsy and cancer are already well documented."

She added: "Commercial organisations in the UK are already allowed to patent and sell cannabis extracts, whilst the population as a whole is criminalised for using it - even if it saves their life. This simply has to be changed."

The MS Society Cymru says availability of drug is good news for sufferers in Wales

Wales has become the first country in the UK to approve a cannabis-based drug for sufferers of multiple sclerosis.

Health Minister Mark Drakeford has approved the cannabis-based oral spray Sativex to treat Welsh patients experiencing symptoms of muscle spasms and stiffness.

Consultants in rehabilitation medicine have hailed the recommendation as a “significant milestone for the treatment of spasticity”.