Man used cannabis to combat anger - will he be punished for not using NHS drugs?

Why is it that we keep reading articles about people that grew and used cannabis in their own homes to their own medicinal benefit being taken to court and punished for it?

"Mr Tomlinson said: "He felt it would be better to take cannabis than Prozac."

For sure I am convinced that is true.

As for the estimate of value - had it been sold - well that just goes to show that nobody knows the yield until it was ready - and IF he had sold it (which seems down to what the police "believe"), would his customers have been victims or other people that felt the plant was better than expensive pharmaceutical drugs.

It's almost as if the courts are telling us "buy our drugs - if you grow cannabis we will make you pay!"

And the taxpayers will be made to pay either way, either for the NHS drugs or the court cases. 

 

Man grew cannabis to help him calm his anger problem
Derby Telegraph, May 19 2012

A SELF-EMPLOYED engineer grew cannabis plants to self-medicate his anger problem, a court was told.
Police found 20 plants at Lee Priest's home in Derby Road, Heanor.
They were growing under three timer-controlled lamps in a basement, magistrates in Chesterfield were told.
Becky Mahon, prosecuting, said the plants had a potential street value of between £3,600 and £11,250, depending on their yield.
Priest told police he was going to let them grow for another fortnight and then check on the internet what to do next.
Ms Mahon said: "He said he had anger management issues and smoked up to half an ounce of cannabis a week, and he used it to relax himself.
"Police believe he would keep some for his own use and sell the rest to subsidise the outlay for future crops."
Kevin Tomlinson, in mitigation, said Priest had been prescribed Prozac for depression but it had an adverse effect on him.
Mr Tomlinson said: "He felt it would be better to take cannabis than Prozac."
Priest, 33, admitted producing 20 cannabis plants between January 1 and March 12.
He will be sentenced on July 13. He was granted bail.

 

Does busting cannabis growers make people feel safer?

Well I guess people will feel safer in their lives knowing that the plants will be destroyed and all that cannabis won't reach the streets.  Of course most of those that want to but cannabis will get it anyway, others will step in to fill the ever-growing gaps in the illicit market, sold to them by dealers even more unscrupulous than this grower was in by-passing the electricity bill, maybe selling dangerous contaminated cannabis even to young teenagers, possibly offering hard drugs, avoiding paying any sort of tax on their profits ...  until they too have their operation closed down, and so on for who-knows how long?

And taxpayers are the ones to pay the cost.

Would it not be better to allow people ton grow their own in their own houses for their own use - would it not be better to allow licensed commercial cultivation and supply with consumer protection, separation from crime and hard drugs, for adults, with credible advice, good quality and known strength, profits taxed, some sort of control?

It would certainly save police time so they could better focus on serious crime that does put us at risk - then we may sleep better at night

Blackburn Citizen, 18 May 2012, by Vanessa Cornall,
Tip-off leads to Accrington drug farm raid

A TIP-OFF helped police close down a cannabis farm in Accrington.

Officers discovered around 50 mature cannabis plants and a ‘huge’ bag of dried ‘bush’ at an empty house in Stevenson Street East yesterday morning.

Mature plants and cultivated leaves were found in three rooms of the property.

The house had been staged to look like someone was living there, but it was obvious the house had not been lived in.

Springhill Community Beat Manager, PC Shazia Bibi, led the investigation.

She said: “We found two rooms full of plants and one room was being used to cultivate the drug.
“It’s hard to put a figure on the total of this find but it is very substantial and easily more than £20,000.”

The grower, had bypassed the electricity supply to run his lamps and transformers from the mains.

As well as the plants, police confiscated transformers, lights and fans.

PC Bibi said: “The house had clearly been staged to look like someone was living there. There were children’s toys on the table in the lounge for example. But a deeper search proved no one had been living there.

“We think someone has been visiting daily to water the plants and to open the windows.

“Our investigation will now focus on who had access to the house.”

Prohibition Policies Reveal Government Corruption and Ignorance

According to The Report of the FCDA, Europe, on Cannabis, it could be grown in huge quantities on waste land; the tops and heads available for medicinal and recreational use, the seed used as food and animal food, the seed oils used too, the hurd and textiles used for clothing, paper, canvas, even building bricks and chitboard, and plastics too - what is left used to make biofuels, safely, easily, locally and environmentally friendly. Anything left, thrown back into the land. The revenue from sales of bud would mean virtually free fuel!

The people would gain more independence from giant petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies, from drug dealers, suffer less pollution and save money.

Any Government that refuses to acknowldge that are liars.

Any Government that still claims that the harm caused by cannabis outweighs the benefits, are either fools or have a vested interest in prohibition, just like the alcohol-gangster-supporting prohibitionists in the USA that supporteed alcohol prohibition last century.

No sense punishing for victimless crimes

It makes no sense to me for the law to punish somebody just for breaking the law - that is tyranny - that is why Human Rights were written - unless there is threat or harm to others or their Rights, public health, public order or national security, the authorities HAVE NO RIGHT to interfere with PRIVATE LIFE or RIGHT TO HOLD AND PRACTICE ONE'S CHOSEN BELIEF OR RELIGION