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UK: Pain relief the reason for cannabis growth
Thisisbristol Saturday 26 Jun 2010 MECHANIC Andrew Mclean was spared a jail term after a court found the "cannabis factory" he was running was for his personal use. Police stumbled on 46 cannabis plants being grown in a room at Andy's Autos garage in Deep Pit Road, Speedwell, and estimated they would yield a kilo of the Class B drug, Bristol Crown Court heard. Garage owner Mclean, however, successfully argued that he was growing the drug strictly for his own pain relief, to deal with continuing repercussions from a bad fall he suffered aged 14. Mclean, 43, of Branwhite Close, Lockleaze, pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis. The Recorder of Bristol Judge Neil Ford QC handed him a 12-month community order, with a three-month curfew in which he must stay at home from 9pm to 6am. The judge told him: "I have made it perfectly clear that if the prosecution took the view that your production of cannabis was for commercial purposes then there would have to be a trial of that issue. "If I decided that you had been producing cannabis for commercial reasons, you would have gone immediately to prison. The production of cannabis in commercial units and people's homes is becoming very widespread. "I want to make it perfectly clear that those who engage in such a process for commercial reasons will receive significant custodial sentences." The judge ordered the destruction of the drugs and drug paraphernalia found and ordered Mclean to pay £85 prosecution costs. Rupert Vining, prosecuting, initially said the crown did not accept Mclean was growing the club for personal use. He said, though, there was no evidence of supply or commercial gain even though police thought the plants could potentially yield a kilo of cannabis. Mr Vining said: "The crown says that with such an amount he would be keeping himself supplied for personal use for a very long time." After an adjournment to consider the matter, Mr Vining told the judge the crown did accept the cannabis was for Mclean's personal use alone. Mary Cowe, defending, told the court: "Mr Mclean has been suffering very severe arthritic-type pain since he was 14, having fallen 60 feet from a roof. "That left him in near constant pain to his neck, back and pelvis. "He tried every sort of painkiller available from the doctor." Miss Cowe said her client's aim was to be self-sufficient to self-medicate. She said: "It was pretty amateurish. He watered and fed the plants and he had no idea about the appropriate levels of food and water. "A total of 23 plants died and he was hoping the very immature saplings could have got him through the next few months." A doctor confirmed Mclean had found prescribed pain relief ineffective. Father-of-two Mclean told the Evening Post that when playing as a child he fell from the roof of a property in Commercial Road, Redcliffe, and smashed his pelvis, hip, skull and wrist. He said: "At first the painkillers worked, but then I started getting an upset stomach. I talked to the doctor, he offered me Valium but I'm not keen on taking pills. "Cannabis was better than taking painkillers and I bought a bible (growing guide), spoke to a lot of people, and went from there. "The police hinted at a caution right from the start. They said 'call that a crop' and said I was obviously an amateur. It went from the magistrate's court to the crown court and I thought 'you're having a laugh'. "I have been treated fairly in the end, but it has cost taxpayers an awful lot of money just to prove the point." http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Pain-relief-reason-cannabis-growth/article-2350098-detail/article.html
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