Police bust scientific experiment

Dutch police swooped on what they thought was an illegal cannabis farm - only to wreck a scientific experiment.

The plants were part of a legal experiment on the use of cannabis fibres in textiles, paper and synthetic materials by the University of Wageningen.

"More than half the plants were destroyed," said Simon Vink, spokesman for the university, according to the Daily Telegraph.

"The project had been underway for years and was in its final phase, which would have allowed us to introduce these new fibres to the market.

"We will probably suffer big losses; we are busy doing the calculations."

He added the university, in the east of the country, was "busy talking to the police" about recovering costs.

Police had announced the discovery of about 47,000 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of more than £3.8m.

But Mr Vink said the plants were unfit for cannabis production due to an extremely low content of THC, the psycho-active ingredient for drug use.

info from: Ananova - Police bust scientific experiment