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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Man escapes jail term for growing cannabis
Cambridge Evening News
Monday 21 May 2007 A MAN who grew himself a kilo of cannabis in the bedroom of his home to smoke to relieve a depressive illness has been handed a suspended prison sentence. Thirty-nine plants growing in a specialised hydroponic set-up were discovered at Kean Chapman's home at Ross Street, Cambridge, after his girlfriend "shopped" him to police, the city's crown court was told. The 38-year-old's personal cultivating operation came to light after police were called to the house over a domestic dispute in February last year and Chapman's partner, Clare Nichols, showed officers the plants. Meanwhile, Chapman had fled to Essex, where he went into a police station and made allegations about his girlfriend and drugs. Chapman was handed a nine month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, for growing the drug, whose yield at almost a kilogram was valued at more than £3,000. The hydroponic set-up had specialised lighting, ventilation and watering systems, Sara Walker, for the prosecution, told the court. It was accepted that Chapman, who suffers from bipolar disorder and is said to have attempted suicide in the past, cultivated the drug to use for self-medication and not for supply to others. Ms Nichols was also arrested and charged in respect of drugs offences following the find, but the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence against her when her case came to court, and she was formally cleared. Chapman was jailed for 12 weeks in September 2005 for growing cannabis in the loft at his former property in Braintree, Essex. He had used "substantial amounts" of the drug to help him cope with chronic depression, but now realised the drug probably exacerbated his condition, Kevin Toomey, mitigating, told the court. Since being caught for cultivation a second time he has engaged with psychiatric services and been given appropriate medication for his illness, which has helped it stabilise, he added, and Chapman now no longer uses cannabis or alcohol. Passing sentence after reading probation and psychiatric reports, Judge Jonathan Haworth said on the face of it the cultivation merited a prison sentence. But it was clear that a lot of time had elapsed since the offence, and Chapman had reacted positively to intervention and help for his condition, he added. In addition to the suspended jail sentence, he imposed 18 months probation supervision and warned Chapman, who admitted the cannabis cultivation, that: "Should you come back to this court for any breach of that supervision or for re-offending, you will almost certainly start with this nine-month prison sentence." http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/
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