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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: We smoked dope from dawn till dusk, says plant grower
Evening Post, Bristol
Friday 22 Nov 2002 Two men accused of drug dealing walked free from court yesterday after a jury decided a crop of cannabis worth nearly 17,000 pounds was for their "personal consumption". Cristopher Blow and Lee Newton told the court they smoked cannabis "from the time they got up until they went to bed", in order to relieve the symptoms of medical conditions they were suffering from. The pair said their high intake of cannabis - and relative inexperience at growing the drug - explained the large amounts found when police raided the home they shared in High Street, Kingswood, Bristol. When officers searched the house on March 15 they found more than a hundred mature cannabis plants in the loft, 144 plants in the basement and another 17 dried plants hanging in an upstairs bedroom. They also seized Tupperware boxes containing quantities of the drug and a host of cannabis growing equipment including heat lamps, plant food and a copy of Weed Worldmagazine. Both Blow, aged 34, and Newton, 27, admitted cultivating the drug but denied growing it to sell. They were found not guilty of possession with intent to supply. Giving evidence during the trial Newton said the pair had started growing their own cannabis in January after he was beaten up while trying to buy the drug on the streets. He told the court he used cannabis to ease his many medical conditions - which included paranoia, agoraphobia, post traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. Newton said: "I'm on three different types of medication, Prozac, which keeps me from freaking out, Tamazepam, for my sleep disorder, and Valium. "I smoke cannabis because I didn't like the amount of these substances I was putting into my system. When I'm having panic attacks it stops them and it gives me a sense of well being." Earlier prosecutor Gavin Currie told the court that just over 2kg of usable cannabis was found in the house, together with plants with the potential to yield 2.6kg more. Asked why the men needed so much of the drug, Newton replied: "Basically I chain-smoked throughout the day. From the moment I got up until the moment I went to bed. "I smoke a joint every hour. It takes me about 20 minutes to smoke one then after about 40 minutes the effect wears off." Newton, who is on sickness benefits, said that as "amateur" cannabis growers they had no real idea how much they would end up with. "The initial outlay for equipment was very small and we bought more as the plants grew, " he said. "We had no real idea how much we were going to grow because a lot of the plants died. "We just had it when we needed it." Blow, the court was told, shared Newton's lifestyle and smoked cannabis to ease pain he felt from his oversensitive reaction to light. "The light sometimes gives him headaches or makes him feel sick, " said Nick O'Brien, defending. "Cannabis helps him alleviate it." Both men will return to court at a date to be fixed to be sentenced on a charge of cultivating cannabis.
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