IT is good to know that the police are working to crack down on the number of cannabis farms being set up in East Lancashire.

According to officers, the production of the drug has become big business with the majority of farms being set up by Vietnamese drug lords looking to make a large profit.

They recruit illegal immigrants and bring them to Britain to work as ‘gardeners’ to look after large crops of the drug.

These people think they are coming for a better life only to be forced to work in the factories or be returned to Vietnam. No doubt there are threats of violence involved as well by the organised criminals in charge.

Police have been very successful at raiding premises where these drugs are grown, including the recent swoop on a £340,000 operation in Blackburn.

But it is still too easy for our young people to get hold of this drug.

Officers are quite right to be looking to capture the more senior people involved, who are orchestrating the crime and making the money.

Only when these people are taken out of the equation will the amount of cannabis on the streets begin to reduce.