An electrical engineer in Birmingham alerted police after he smelt what appeared to be cannabis on a routine visit to an unidentified address in City Arcade close to Union Street on 14 April. Police investigations later revealed that there was a high level of electricity consumption from the address.

They found over a hundred plants in three rooms at the location. So far, police have arrested three people and charged them with illegal cannabis cultivation.

The West Midlands Police Cannabis Disposal Team tweeted shortly after the seizure and said: "The 3 rooms used for cannabis cultivation were overlooking the busy City Arcade and Union Street in Birmingham City Centre. An electrical engineer smelt cannabis whilst on a routine call out at the address following a large amount of electricity usage."

In 2015, a cannabis farm was discovered yards away from the Newton-le-Willows police station after pigeons were seen roosting on the warm roof of an ordinary-looking home in Merseyside. Nearly 300 birds were attracted to the residence due to powerful lights and heaters that are vital to the plant cultivation. A search warrant at the address revealed 14 actively growing plants capable of producing £1,200 ($1,800, €1,650) worth of the drug every three months.

In 2014, as part of a #Feed420 Campaign, campaigners scattered cannabis seeds across the UK in a bid to convince the government to decriminalise the Class B drug for medicinal and recreational purposes. Pretending to be "feeding the birds", the legal campaign attracted over 2,000 people aged between 18 to 30 and resulted in nearly 50 plants growing along the South Bank and 30 near the Tower of London. "I can't believe how popular the campaign has become. If there are politicians who want to get in contact instead of sitting back we would be more than happy to get things moving," Finn Hemingway, founder of the #Feed420 campaign told IBTimes UK.

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