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."

 

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