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UK: Shoddy Treatment of Cannabis Gran

DAVID MacLEAN

The Shields Gazette

Thursday 08 Mar 2007

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A GRANDMOTHER convicted of growing cannabis was let down by the legal
system, claim local campaigners.

Patricia Tabram, 68, was ordered to carry out 250 hours' unpaid work
yesterday after a jury found her guilty of cultivating the plants at her
home in Humshaugh, near Hexham.

The pensioner, originally from South Shields, has suffered from
depression since 1975 when she found her 14-year-old son dead in his
bed, and has tried to commit suicide 11 times.
She told a jury she once contemplated driving off cliffs in South Shields.

Tabram claims she suffers pain from two car crashes she's been in and
used the drug to aid her. Tabram, who represented herself in court, has
been supported during the trial by pro-cannabis campaigners.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service said the use of cannabis was not
a legal defence to possession and cultivation of the drug, and a jury
found her guilty at Carlisle Crown Court after just 15 minutes. Today
Gemma Finch, from Mental Health in South Tyneside, said Tabram has been
harshly treated.

She said: "There's some evidence cannabis use can help a range of
conditions, including depression, and the courts should have been
lenient towards her if she was able to prove that it helped her well-being.

"She's 68, and getting on in life, I just think they should have given
her a break."

Dave McIvor, support officer for the South Tyneside branch of the
Multiple Sclerosis Society said: "The use of cannabis is relatively
widespread among people who suffer from MS.

"The Government needs to look at its drugs policies and realise the use
of cannabis for medical purposes would be effective. I feel for her.
She's been treated shoddily by the legal system."

Tabram could still be kicked out of her housing association bungalow.

http://www.southtynesidetoday.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2108287&SectionID=1111

 

 

 

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