Modern Slavery Report Shows Increase in Slaves Used to Farm Cannabis

The Salvation Army released a new report, Supporting Adult Victims of Modern Slavery, which indicates a 300 percent increase in the number of slavery victim referrals in the U.K. since 2011 and a nearly 200 percent increase in cases that involved cannabis farming since 2015. The rise in numbers could be attributed to better identification protocols, which is catching more human traffickers in the act.

The report indicated a rise in modern slavery referrals in the U.K. from 378 in 2011 to 1,554 in 2016. The number of Vietnamese victims entering the illegal cannabis workforce rose from 109 to 183 over the last year. One person in the report was trafficked for organ removal.

Anne Read is the The Salvation Army’s director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery. “The fact that we are seeing such as increase in male victims from Vietnam, who have been forced under threat to themselves and their families, to farm cannabis, could reflect an improved ability to recognise the victims of these crimes,” Read told The Guardian. Male victims are frequently forced to farm, where females are frequently forced to work as sex workers or brides.

The report focuses on one individual named “T” who was forced to farm cannabis as a slave at age 16. T told The Salvation Army that after migrating from Vietnam to the U.K., he was told by his trafficker that he now owed £100,000 ($132,640) and was told that he had to either work as a prostitute or a cannabis farmer to pay off his “debt.”

“Sadly cannabis farming is one of the most easily hidden forms of modern slavery and such an increase in victims being referred to The Salvation Army for support could also indicate the scale of the problem and that we are still only seeing the tip of the iceberg of people being exploited in this way,” Read added.

When buying cannabis in the U.K. or in Western Europe, it’s crucial to know from where your cannabis originated. There are about 40.3 million modern slaves worldwide, according to the 2017 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report with about 57,700 right here in the United States, where most are sold as wives or sex workers.