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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Community service for unrepentant gran who grew cannabis
thisislondon.co.uk
Wednesday 07 Mar 2007 An eccentric grandmother, who uses cannabis in her cooking to relieve pain, escaped jail for a second time yesterday after being convicted of growing the drug in her wardrobe. Patricia Tabram, 68, has defiantly vowed to continue taking tiny amounts of cannabis so her body is not 'riddled with pain' and now faces eviction from her bungalow home because of her drug habit. In April 2005 the former restaurateur and teacher was given a six-month suspended prison sentence after admitting possession with intent to supply. The judge refused to "make her a martyr" by sending her to jail after he heard she baked cannabis casseroles for her friends. Yesterday the jury at Carlisle Crown Court took just 15 minutes to find her guilty of growing and possessing cannabis. The conviction also put her in breach of her previous suspended sentence and she was told she faced jail. But instead Judge Barbara Forrester ordered her to carry out 250 hours community work and pay £1,000 costs. The judge said she accepted the drug was only for her personal use, commenting:"In those circumstances I am satisfied it is not necessary to impose a custodial sentence, either immediate or suspended." Outside court the twice-married mother-of-three said she would not change her ways and was willing to go to prison. "I am still going to medicate with cannabis," she said. "The law and justice do not exist in this country anymore." During the trial Tabram caused chaos by smuggling three bags of the drug into the court by hiding them in her bra to use as "evidence" in her defence. The next morning she told the judge the drugs had gone. The court was cleared while a search was carried out and the forgetful grandmother eventually found the cannabis stash in her handbag. The court heard how police raided her home in the village of Humshaugh, near Hexham, Northumberland, in September 2005 following a tip off. She directed them to a bedroom where cannabis plants were growing in a wardrobe, along with a lamp and other equipment. She told them powder stored in jars in her kitchen and used for cooking also contained the drug. Tabram asked police to take 22 boxes of curries, casseroles, biscuits, cakes and ice cream to show she only used cannabis for cooking. Tom Moran, prosecuting, told the court the defendant "passionately believes in the use of cannabis as a way of relieving pain." She says she suffers from symptoms from various unfortunate health problems that are, she says, not alleviated by conventional medicine. She believes she should be able to take cannabis to do what conventional medicine cannot do." Conducting her own defence, she revealed she suffered from depression since 1975 when she found her 14-year-old son dead in his bed and had tried to commit suicide 11 times. The court heard she took cannabis to ease her depression, as well as aches and pains she still suffers from two car crashes. Tabram said her form of medication worked and she grew the plants herself to avoid buying the drug off criminals. She told the jury:"Sometimes the law is wrong, I would just like you to bear that in mind." After the unanimous verdicts Tabram said:"I am old and I am tired, and I am disappointed, not in the result by the jury. I am disappointed in the attitude of the court regarding someone my age with my health problems and the way I deal with it. I just want to go home and get some rest." She said adding cannabis to hot chocolate gave her five hours pain relief, which was "better than morphine." As a housing association tenant, Tabram could be evicted from her bungalow because of her persistent drug taking which breaches her tenancy agreement. Defending its actions, a spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said:"Patricia Tabram has consistently flouted the law and Northumbria Police has a duty to act on the information we receive concerning possessing and cultivating drugs in order to enforce this law. We take drug abuse very seriously and are keen to use all tools at our disposal to eliminate drug dealing and use in the community." The grandmother stood as a candidate for the Legalise Cannabis Alliance at the last election and has become a focus for campaigners calling for a change in the law. Opinion is divided within the medical profession as to the efffectiveness and safety of cannabis-based medicines as a form of pain relief for chronic sufferers such as people with multiple sclerosis. In May 2005 the Court of Appeal rejected a bid to permit the use of cannabis for the relief of chronic pain. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/
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