CANNABIS
CASE GRANDMOTHER IS SPARED PRISON
Source: The Guardian
Pub date: April 9, 2005
Subj: Cannabis case grandmother
is spared prison
Author: Martin Wainwright
Cited: Pat Tabram
http://www.ccguide.org/pattarbram.php
An unrepentant grandmother who cooked cannabis cakes, soups and
casseroles for neighbours and friends escaped jail yesterday after a judge told
her that he did not want to make her a martyr.
Patricia Tabram, a 66-year-old who has developed recipes for chicken,
leek and cannabis pies and cannabis curry since her arrest last summer, said
she would continue to take the drug for medicinal reasons, although she would
not supply it to others.
"It's far better than any tablets you can get from the
doctor," she said as she left Newcastle Crown court for her remote bungalow
in the Northumberland countryside. She will also continue negotiations about
publishing her biographical cookbook Grandma Eats Cannabis.
Mrs Tabram, who has two children and has led "an eventful
life" according to her legal team, was raided in May last year by police
who found 8.5oz (242g) of potent "skunk" cannabis worth ukp854 in her
fridge and on her
bedside table. They also discovered a set of scales, wraps for taking
the drug and 31 cannabis plants in the loft plus one on her hall table.
"Patricia became involved in cannabis in February 2004 as a result
of suffering physical symptoms," Stuart Graham, prosecuting, told the
court as Mrs Tabram sat quietly wearing her spectacles and a black cardigan and
pearl necklace. "Somebody approached her and said cannabis might help her
with her difficulties."
She admitted possessing the drug with intent to supply at a hearing in
December which was told how she made regular visits to the Byker district of
Newcastle before making arrangements for deliveries as large as a
"nine-bar" from a dealer in Hexham, nearer to her home.
Carl Gumsley, defending, told yesterday's hearing: "She maintains
she will continue taking cannabis and I do not suggest to the court that she
has given it up. But notwithstanding her own views, she will not supply it to
any other person."
Mrs Tabram has become a minor celebrity since her arrest, but Mr Gumsley
said that she had suffered periods of mental illness as well as the physical
ailments which prompted her experiment with drugs.
Judge David Hodson, the recorder of Newcastle, said the offence was so
serious that only a jail sentence was appropriate, but he had no intention of
making her a martyr.
Sentencing her to six months' jail suspended for two years, he said:
"People in this part of the world cannot fail to have noticed that you
have been caught up in a media circus. It might be that you have been trying to
tempt the courts into making a martyr of you. I am not going to do this.
"This offence stems from your belief of the medicinal benefits of
cannabis. It is not for me to make any judgment on the debate, which I
acknowledge. The fact remains that it is an offence to possess cannabis with an
intent to supply."
He warned Mrs Tabram that any repeat of the offence would lead to her
serving the six months, and also ordered her to pay ukp750 legal costs and
surrender her cannabis.
She complained after the hearing: "I'm a free woman, but fining me
so much money - I am a pensioner and I get a little over ukp100 a week."
Mrs Tabram said that she had not supplied anyone else with the drug
since her arrest and added: "I only got cannabis once for my friends who
have similar medical problems. Now a young man has arranged for it to be
delivered to their doors."
Northumbria
police questioned Mrs Tabram's image as a cosy ex-chef doing a handful of
doddery friends a good turn. A statement said: "The set-up at her home
bore all the hallmarks of any sophisticated drug dealer. While it was not
proven to whom she intended to supply the cannabis, we believe she is a drug
dealer in the traditional sense."