A hemp crop in England has become famous for receiving and employing immigrants from various countries. It is the Oxfordshire town home of the famous Oxford University and has now become a kind of hemp refugee.
In the United Kingdom, medical cannabis has been legal since 2018 and hemp crops are allowed if they have the respective licenses for by-products with cannabidiol (CBD) extracts or its fibers.
The cooperative with the initiative to teach immigrants and refugees how to work with hemp is Hempen Organic. Since one of the main concerns of this population group is to find where to live, the representatives of the project launched the “Growing Solidarity” program, whose focus is to help with work and housing.
According to reports, there are at least 10 million refugees in the UK, so there is real solidarity to help them with their adaptation to society.
“We work with people through weekly sessions on our farm and in local neighborhoods. Together we exchange skills, share knowledge, combat social isolation, and build resilience, with nature as a foundation,” says Patrick Gillett, one of the project managers.
This organization was also created to improve inclusivity and contribute to the non-discrimination of these people.
The initiative seeks to empower people in an “interactive way to grow, cook, eat and share, while addressing barriers to accessing healthy and nutritious food, including hemp,” he explains.
For their interesting work, the Hempen Organic team was recognized by the institution “City of Sanctuaries of the United Kingdom” who awarded a distinction for their annual work.
This has opened the doors for them to work with different institutions of social good. With their project and the help of the team they can develop different CBD-based products that they have to import as the business licensing situation is complicated now.
Growers are demanding that the interpretation of the “licensing regime” be changed as it does not benefit cooperative production as much as industrial production.
in Costa Rica. 
