One of my more interesting commissions this week. Nestled in the amongst farmland in darkest Kent sits a very different crop; greenhouses full of the finest Afghan Marijuana.

Weirdly the United Nations say that the U.K is the biggest producer of cannabis for medical purposes. Even stranger when you consider that the UK has only just changed legislation that had banned medical use of the drug for nearly 50 years!

U.K business, GW Pharmaceuticals is producing a potentially life changing drug for many children with severe epilepsy.

Unfortunately for me the optimum conditions for growing the stuff aren’t quite so favourable for photography. Only once my lenses had acclimatised to the constant 25 degrees in the glasshouse could I turn my attention to the brutal incandescent light pouring down into the thick green crop.

As always with a photo essay – time is king, and as is becoming increasingly common I barley had any. I was whisked though the entire process in under 2hrs (whilst shooting video). Barley enough time for the lingering aroma to register as a distant memory of my student halls of residence nearly 20 years ago.

This photo essay was commissioned by my friends at Bloomberg News – thanks guys!

Read Eddie Van Der Walt‘s original piece here