19/02/2008 00:00:00
UK: Arthritic pensioner grew cannabis
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A pensioner who confessed to growing his own cannabis plants at his
Tooting home to combat chronic arthritis escaped with a £70 fine from
magistrates.
Frederick Robert Turner, of Manville Road, pleaded guilty at South West
Magistrates' Court last Friday to producing the class C drug.
In September last year, police arrested Turner, 67, after finding six
cannabis plants at his house.
In court, he admitted he had been cultivating and smoking the drug to
alleviate the symptoms of his painful arthritis.
The former horticulturalist, who suffers from high blood pressure and
rheumatoid arthritis, claimed to smoke the drug to assuage the pain of
his joints, but did not want to go to a street dealer, so decided to
grow his own.
As Turner lives solely off his £100 per week pension, magistrates
decided it was more appropriate to hand the pensioner a conditional
discharge, meaning he cannot re-offend within 12 months of this case, in
addition to the fine and court costs.
The maximum sentence for producing cannabis in this case was three
months' imprisonment and or a £2,500 fine, but the law takes into
account cases where the drug is used for medicinal purposes.
http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13300
Author:
Wimbledon Guardian via UKCIA
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