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The UK's drugs minister has banned herself from making ANY decisions about drugs thanks to a "ridiculous conflict of interests".

Tory Victoria Atkins has removed herself from all drugs policy because her husband's firm runs a legal cannabis farm.

Campaigners branded the situation "ridiculous".

They also accused Ms Atkins of "grand hypocrisy" because she has spoken out against legalising cannabis in the past - and her government has refused calls to relax the law.

Ms Atkins became a Home Office minister with responsibilities that include drugs in November 2017.

Meanwhile British Sugar, whose Managing Director is Ms Atkins husband Paul Kenward, is growing a legal, 'non-psychoactive' strain of the drug to treat children's epilepsy.

(Image: AFP)

Defending her husband's work last year, Ms Atkins insisted the legal cannabis being grown has a Home Office licence and is a "very different substance".

But Peter Reynolds, president of cannabis law reform campaign CLEAR, told the BBC: "It's not just a conflict of interests, it is hypocrisy on a grand scale.

"The Tory party's policy on drugs - cannabis in particular - is directly opposed to the evidence, and Victoria Atkins is someone who supports that.

"What is appalling is she doesn't just want to support it for policy reasons, quite evidently, she wants to support it because her husband and family are directly benefiting from [the regulation of] it."

The Home Office confirmed Ms Atkins removed herself from all policy relating to drugs when taking office in November.

Steve Moore, of drug policy think tank Volteface, told The Sun: "We have the ridiculous situation of the drugs minister being unable to speak in Parliament or make decisions on one of the most important parts of her job.”

A Home Office spokesman said: "In 2016, British Sugar was granted a Home Office licence to grow a non-psychoactive variant of the cannabis plant.

"Victoria Atkins MP declared this fact in Parliament when speaking in a debate as a backbencher.

“When she was appointed as Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability in November 2017, the Minister voluntarily recused herself from policy or decisions relating to cannabis, including licensing.

"The Minister for Policing leads on Home Office policy specifically relating to ministerial cannabis licensing decisions, discussions regarding legislation or the rescheduling of cannabis, and the control of cannabinoids."

Last July, before Ms Atkins joined the Home Office, she said: "David Blunkett downgraded the classification of cannabis.

"The impact of that on the ground in magistrates courts up and down the country was terrible.

"Young people were coming to court with very severe mental health problems because of their use of cannabis.

"We tried the experiment and it failed."