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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis expert was also dealer
BBC Online Wednesday 10 Sep 2003 A man who has campaigned for the medical use of cannabis has been convicted of illegally supplying the drug. Neil Montgomery admitted selling cannabis resin to two tabloid journalists posing as businessmen at Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel last year. The city's sheriff court heard how Montgomery had in the past appeared as an expert witness in court cases and before a Westminster committee. He was sentenced to 150 hours' community service. Last month Montgomery, of Dunbar's Close, in Edinburgh, had pleaded guilty to supplying cannabis resin and cannabis to two News of the World investigative reporters in the hotel. The 43-year-old social anthropologist was arrested when details of the so-called sting were published in the newspaper. Lawyer Mark Chambers said in his client's defence that he had been the victim of "an elaborate hoax" carried out by reporters. The court heard that reporters Mahzar Mahmood and Mahmood Qureshi set up a meeting with Montgomery in the hotel on 21 February. Montgomery was acting as a consultant for a drugs research company. The undercover reporters said they wanted him to act as a consultant for a project - licensed by the Pakistani Government - to manufacture medicinal products containing cannabis. Montgomery was then asked if he could supply cannabis. Cannabis resin He told the reporters he knew someone who could supply some "really quite nice" cannabis. He left an envelope which contained cannabis resin at the hotel later that evening. The next day Montgomery returned to the hotel and was asked for more of the drug. A person who was with him was given £20 for the drugs previously delivered and a further £20 for drugs which Montgomery later delivered. Mr Chambers said his client had lost his position as a pharmaceuticals consultant and had been guilty of "rashness and foolishness". Sheriff Douglas Allan said he had read newspaper articles about Montgomery, letters of reference and a letter from Montgomery himself. Montgomery had even appeared as an expert defence witness in the sheriff's own court. The sheriff said: "Clearly you have a great deal of knowledge of the subject. "That puts you in a difficult area because this is a subject, which at the moment has a degree of illegality which you don't agree with and you have made efforts to try and ensure the law is changed". The sheriff said he accepted that Montgomery had been "set up by a fairly elaborate pretence", but he had crossed the boundary into breaking the law.
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