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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Is Cannabis The Growth Industry Of The Future
This is Gloucestershire
Friday 31 Oct 2003 Could this be the shape of things to come? Cannabis 'factories' like this one discovered in Gloucestershire - at present they are against the law, but if the current mood of the Government continues, perhaps one day perfectly legal and above board. As cannabis cultivator Darren Butler from Stonehouse starts a two-and-a-half year jail sentence this week, three Gloucestershire MPs joined 313 nationwide in a massive endorsement for downgrading cannabis from its class B status. Gloucester's MP Parmjit Dhanda, Nigel Jones, MP for Cheltenham and Forest of Dean MP Diana Organ were among the 316 MPs who voted for cannabis to be reclassified as a class C drug. Stroud MP David Drew did not vote, while Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown and Tewkesbury MP Laurence Robertson were among the 160 members who voted against the motion. Nevertheless Judge Jamie Tabor QC jailed Butler for setting up a cannabis cultivation industry in a warehouse on Hopelands Business Centre, Brimscombe, near Stroud. Defending barrister Kate Aubrey-Johnson said her client had begun using drugs after suffering a head injury in a road accident. "He suffered a severe head injury and found his mood was considerably affected," she said. She explained that her client had set up his factory intending to sell cannabis but said he was a sole trader with no links to organised crime. She asked for Judge Tabor to sentence her client in the light of the recent decision to downgrade cannabis from a Class B drug to a Class C. "It's accepted by the Government that cannabis has potential to be of medicinal benefit," she said. "MPs voted yesterday to reclassify cannabis. The Government is saying that if police come across an individual user they should not be treated severely." Before passing sentence Judge Tabor noted that attitudes to cannabis were changing. "I acknowledge that attitudes have changed markedly in the last 20 years when somebody smoking a single reefer could find themselves going to prison," he said. "It's difficult to imagine now, but that's how it was." Earlier Gloucester Crown Court heard that within a relatively short time 25-year-old Butler and his accomplice Andrew Bill had enough plants to yield nearly eight kilograms of cannabis. Prosecuting barrister Nick O'Brien said Butler was arrested after police stopped and searched him near his business premises. "Officers found a small amount of cannabis on his person," he said. "A warrant was then executed at the unit and police found the entire premises had been given over to cannabis growing. It was a professional cannabis growing factory. "The unit consisted of three rooms each containing a large amount of cannabis plants. "On the work surfaces were large amounts of equipment and dried cannabis." Mr O'Brien said 25-year-old Bill's involvement in cultivating the cannabis was minimal, restricted to tending to plants in Butler's absence. "He was much like the man who comes and waters your plants when you are away on holiday," he said. The pair pleaded guilty to charges of cultivating cannabis, possession of cannabis, possession of cannabis resin and obtaining a money transfer by deception. Butler, who has no previous convictions, separately admitted a charge of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and possessing magic mushrooms. Bill admitted possession of a single Ecstasy tablet found at his home address. The court was told that Bill, of Pincot cottage, Pincot Lane, Stroud, would be happy to take up a 120 community punishment order proposed by Judge Tabor. n Declassifying cannabis will put the drug in the same group as steroids and anti-depressants. Possession of small amounts will no longer be an arrestable offence.
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