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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Father gave son drugs to keep pushers at bay
Simon De Bruxelles The Times
Saturday 13 Jan 2001 A FATHER told a judge that he supplied cannabis to his son only to keep him out of the grasp of unscrupulous drug dealers. William Beadle said that he feared the dealers would entice his son Dorian, 22, into trying harder drugs. Beadle, 65, who was given a suspended sentence of six months, was unrepentant about his dealing after the hearing. He said: “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and don’t take drugs. I took cannabis once in the 1960s and I didn’t like it. “But there are times when you have to take action like this. I did not want to see my son get hooked on hard drugs. “I can’t complain about the sentence. I knew what I was doing was against the law. There are a lot of unscrupulous people out there who give these kids drugs on credit to get them hooked. They will only move onto harder drugs, and, that is when the serious problems start.” Beadle, from Devizes, Wiltshire, said he began selling cannabis after his son asked to borrow money to settle a debt owed to dealers. Later some of his friends asked to borrow money to cover debts and he began to sell to more “customers”. He was arrested with Dorian, who had delivered some of the drugs to his friends. They had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to supplying cannabis between February 25 and June 1 last year. The pair also admitted possession of the drug with intent to supply on May 31. At the hearing at Swindon Crown Court on Monday, Sam Butterfield, for the prosecution, said: “William Beadle said he became involved in the supply of drugs through assisting his son, who had a cannabis habit and had been smoking it for some time. He did it mainly to cut costs for Dorian and to remove him from circles his father thought unsavoury and dangerous.” Mr Butterworth added that Dorian had passed cannabis cigarettes to others, but had no idea how much of the drug his father had. Peter Codner, representing them, said: “William Beadle found himself in a position today many fathers find themselves in, having children with a marked predilection for cannabis, which is a crime, but many people regard, rightly or wrongly, as one of the less pernicious drugs.” Simon Previtt, the Recorder, told Beadle that regardless of his reasons for dealing in drugs he would have normally imposed a custodial sentence. However, he spared him jail because of his age and medical grounds. Dorian was ordered to do 80 hours’ community service and was put on probation for 18 months.
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