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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Woman had enough cannabis to blow her head off, says Judge
icSouthLondon
Friday 03 Feb 2006 A JUDGE has refused to accept a middle-aged woman's claims that she needed to grow cannabis to ease her back pain. Judge Shani Barnes was unimpressed by Margaret Ebden hobbling around court grimacing in agony - and told her she had enough drugs to "blow her head off". Huge amounts of cannabis were found in the 50-year-old's house, garden and potting shed at St Benet's Grove, St Helier. In all 92 cannabis plants were found, but Ebden, who pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to cultivating cannabis, claimed she needed the drugs to ease crippling back pain and sciatica. But Judge Barnes was unamused by the excuse and told the court: "This amount of cannabis would not only have numbed her pain but blown her head off." Police found the vast array of plants when they acted on a tip off on June 28, 2004, and also found drug cultivation equipment in the house. Kingston Crown Court heard last Thursday that Ebden had two previous convictions, one from 21 years ago when she allowed cannabis to be smoked in her house and another for failing to appear in court. Ben Cooper, defending, said: "My client is unable to take painkillers because she suffers from colitis. "So she takes cannabis for pain relief and she resorted to growing her own." Throughout the hearing she walked around the dock clutching her back and grimacing but the judge refused to believe she was solely growing drugs for medicinal purposes. He said: "I am not a fool. I can tell when someone is trying to take advantage of their condition. "There was more cannabis there than you could have used for yourself." Ebden was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for two years for cultivating cannabis.
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