A SHOP that sells cannabis seeds is one of the sponsors of Black History Month in Harrow.

Grasshoppers in Station Road, Harrow, is a tattoo and piercing studio that sells the seeds as a sideline.

The Harrow Times was tipped off about its links to Black History Month by a member of the public who expressed concern that allowing a shop that sold the means to grow a controlled substance did not create a positive image for the month-long festival.

Councillor Nana Asante (Labour, Edgware), who helped organise Black History Month locally, said:"At the time that the brochure went to print we simply did not know that this shop sold cannabis seeds.

"We didn't have the resources or the capacity to check out every single sponsor.

"But if we had known we would have disassociated ourselves from them.

"I do know that the police have investigated the shop and what it is doing is not illegal."

Jeff Benjamin, owner of Grasshopper, said: "I am a white South African man, who decided to sponsor Black History Month because it was an event that takes place in our community.

"I've been here for eight years and I make it absolutely clear to anyone who buys seeds that using them to grow plants is illegal.

"If I was doing something wrong I would have been shut down by now."

A loophole in the law means that it is not illegal to sell or buy cannabis seeds or to possess them.

But it is illegal to use the seeds to grow cannabis plants without a licence from the Government.

Cannabis seeds have no other practical use.

Some websites sell them as "souvenirs", making it clear that buyers who plants them face imprisonment or a fine.

Black History Month aims to pay tribute to the historical and cultural contributions of black African and Caribbean communities.