CANNABIS
GRAN COULD FACE PRISON
Source:
The Evening Chronicle, Newcastle, icNewcastle, UK
Pudate: September 22, 2005
Subj:
Cannabis gran could face prison
Author:
Brenda Hickman
Web: http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/
Ref:
Patricia Tabram http://www.ccguide.org/pattabram.php
Dope gran
Patricia Tabram will reveal in court she cooks cannabis for 27 people.
Mrs
Tabram is due to answer bail at a police station this afternoon.
If her
case goes to court the 66-year-old, who was arrested in a drugs raid on her home
last Friday, may face six months in jail.
Defiant
Mrs Tabram, who the Chronicle first revealed had cooked with cannabis to
relieve her ailments, has been seized again on suspicion of cultivating hash at
her home in Humshaugh, Northumberland.
She was
due to report to Hexham police station to find out whether she faces further
charges.
After the
raid Mrs Tabram told the Chronicle: "They say I may be going to prison, so
I have decided that even though I am approaching 70 I am going to represent
myself at the crown court.
"Let's
face it, if I do go to court I may as well take the bull by the horns and list
the 27 people I cook for in the Tynedale area, although I can't disclose their
names to the court or the police, as they are all, except for one, older than
myself."
Mrs
Tabram was given a sixth-month sentence in April, suspended for two years,
after she admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply.
She had
been cooking casseroles, cakes and biscuits with cannabis for medicinal
purposes
In the
latest raid, police seized four cannabis plants and equipment for cultivating
them.
She said:
"I don't know why they bothered. I only had four plants and three of those
were dying.
"They
took some lights and a switch that I use for growing as well.
"I have
a medical bed in my room that I have to use for my back. I have serious
problems. I couldn't get in and out of a proper bed.
"It's
things like this which really prove that I am a medicinal user. I don't think
that I am doing anything wrong." A court ordered her to pay £750 costs at
Newcastle Crown Court after she admitted dealing in Class-C drugs.
Judge
David Hodson warned her that she would go to jail if she continued to supply
cannabis, but said he was aware of the media frenzy surrounding the case and
refused to make a martyr out of her.
A
spokesman for Northumbria Police said after last week's raid: "A
66-year-old Hexham woman was arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis and
bailed pending further inquiries."
Mrs
Tabram added: "I don't suppose any other grey-haired old ladies have
represented themselves in the court but if necessary, I do intend to try.
"I
intend to stop using cannabis as medication, then the court can see for themselves
the difference between me at the beginning of the year and the state of me when
I am at court with my two walking sticks, my collar and my bad state of health,
which was made worse through NHS medication."