A DUCHESS has been branded irresponsible by anti-drug campaigners after unveiling plans to grow cannabis and opium in a public garden.

The Duchess of Northumberland has announced a scheme to cultivate illegal substances, including cann-abis and opium poppies, in a section of the £42m Alnwick Gardens.

The plot will also include castor oil plants - the seeds of which can be used to create the deadly nerve gas ricin.

Garden staff - who said visitors would not be allowed to harvest their own souvenirs - said that they hoped the plants would help people learn about drugs and their toxic effects.

But development worker with North Northumberland Drug Action Team Paul Bolton said the statement was naive.

"I do not think this is very responsible at all.

"Cannabis was reclassified in January, but we have got to get the message across especially to young people that cannabis is an illegal substance and they can still be arrested."

Alnwick Gardens liaison director Ian August said no decision had been made about what plants will be included.

He said: "The whole brief behind this is making people, and the younger generation, aware how dangerous these plants can be, but there is an historical element to this as well."

The gardens could also include specimens such as foxglove and tobacco plants.

In addition to the poison garden, work has also started on the serpent garden and labyrinth as part of the second phase of the multi-million pound project.

Gardening historian and award-winning broadcaster Caroline Holmes, who has presented Radio 4's New Shoots, Old Tips, has been working as a consultant for the poison garden, which it is hoped will open in August.

The gardens are seeking Home Office approval to grow cannabis.