Man grew cannabis to ease his back pain: The Advertiser: August 9 2011

What a SHAME on UK Justice that this man has been dragged through Magistrates' and Crown Court and punished with a conditional discharge - for doing nothing more than growing cannabis to ease his pain and replace the prescribed diamorphine (heroin) that he says was not efficient.

I do not for one minute believe that the Misuse of Drugs Act was meant to stop people from growing plants that ease suffering or improve health - and certainly as there was no victim to his so-called "offence" he does not deserve punishment.

NO, the court does not deserve the congratulations that one reader writes here. A "conditional discharge" for three years - that means that if he grows again and gets court, he may be punished more severely and even sent to prison.

AND if he resorts again to prescribed diamorphine, one thing is sure - he will become addicted to it.

It is time that the police and courts stopped using the law against people in dire need of the pain-relieving and other beneficial properties of this remarkable plant, cannabis.

Above in response to:
Man grew cannabis to ease his back pain: The Advertiser: August 9 2011 By Daniel Howlett

A MAN suffering from a degenerative spinal condition was spared jail yesterday for growing cannabis to relieve his pain.
Stephen Tull, 59, was given a three-year conditional discharge at Teesside Crown Court after he admitted growing cannabis plants.
Richard Wilson, prosecuting, said that on May 12, police went to search another property in the street in Darlington where Tull lived.
Mr Wilson said: “When they arrived, they found the defendant outside of his property.
He ushered them in, telling the officers that he knew why they were there.
“When officers went upstairs they found a relatively professional set-up with 24 cannabis plants growing. He immediately admitted being a user of the drug and told police that it helped with his condition.”
Tull appeared at Darlington Magistrates’ Court on July 5, but magistrates felt their sentencing powers were not sufficient and sent the case to crown court.
Brian Russell, in mitigation, said: “He was in receipt of around £800 per month in benefits and used to spend around £200 per month on marijuana, which he found to be a much more effective painkiller then the diamorphine he is prescribed.
“He decided to save the money and spent around £1,500 setting up the cannabis farm, which he knew would save him money in the long term.
“He will not be growing cannabis again, but I think it is clear from the pre-sentence report that he will continue to use it into the future.”
Judge George Moorhouse said: “You have pleaded guilty to a very serious charge.
“However, you are suffering from a degenerative spinal condition and, by taking cannabis, your position was made more comfortable.”
He ordered that the cannabis and growing equipment be destroyed.
Speaking outside the court, Tull, who lives in the South Park area of Darlington, said: “I would just like to thank everybody for their kind support throughout this process.
“Me and my partner are both just really glad this whole thing is over. We can now put it behind us and get on with our lives.
“The three-year conditional discharge was a little more than I was expecting, but I will be keeping my nose clean, so it does not really matter.”

Heroin on NHS would save a fortune on crime

The cost to the NHS of the legal and medicinal supply of heroin to users would be a small fraction of the cost to society of the crimes committed to buy it illegally - and purity and strength can be assured along with clean needles and credible advice, which would reduce the risk of further damage to users health.


At a recent Lib Dem conference in Perth, Scotland, , delegates voted for the introduction of “diamorphine maintenance treatment” instead of fines or prison for heroin users, reports The Express.

This is not a new idea, but it makes sense.

In the early 1999's, Dr John Marks conducted authorised trials by supplying heroin to addicts in his area in Merseyside.  It was notable that several problems associated with heroin were eased.  For example, many addicts started taking employment or education;  associated crime fell; the rate of new addicts fell.  Yet, despite its success, the programme was stopped - and within a year many of his clients died, were sent to prison, or took up a life of crime again.

I always find it raises serious questions when Government trials prove such a success but are then stopped and the positive results ignored but nowadays, in the time that our Government both Conservative and Labour chose to ignore the advice of its own panels of experts such as the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and upgrade the cannabis plant to a class B drug.  They have their own motives.

Problematic drug use and drug users ought to be treated as a health problem, not a legal one.  The prohibition of drugs merely drives the whole culture of drug use underground, straight into the hands of unscrupulous criminal dealers and gangs (even terrorists) that are, in truth, mostly beyond the reaches of the arm of the law, at least until something goes drastically wrong, which is so often does with the hard drugs.

The profit motivation, as is the profit itself, is massive, and so long as prohibition laws enable it, there is an endless cue of people willing to step in to replace the relatively small number of dealers that are caught..

Meanwhile, the vast majority of the "poorer" users and those addicted to hard drugs like heroin are so often forced to resort to crime to raise the funds for their next hit or bear the brunt of withdrawal.

Under the plan, addicts would be given diamorphine – the medical name for heroin – to cut down on deaths from tainted street drugs and deter them from turning to crime or prostitution to feed their habit.

Callum Leslie, the Holyrood candidate for Mid Fife and Glenrothes, said: “For drug offenders, fines and jail time simply don’t work. Controlled diamorphine treatment is a method that works where others fail.”

Last year, at least seven people died after a tainted batch of heroin landed on Scotland’s streets. However, the plan for NHS heroin prescriptions – the motion means that the Lib Dems as a party are now committed to campaigning for the idea – provoked a scathing response.

Conservative leader Annabel Goldie said: “I have never been convinced that state-funded heroin is the answer. There is already an over-reliance on another opiate, methadone, as a treatment. "

But Annabel seems to have ignored the cost to the community of crime committed to raise funds, and the cost to the health of the individual (even to loss of life) through dirty supplies and contaminated needles.   Methadone, however, brings problems of its own and many addicts say it is harder to withdraw from Methadone that it is from heroin.

I am not a supporter of the Lib Dem Party but at least this is one sensible policy they have adopted.  I hope they look at this and reflect on their apparent lack of interest in realising a few of their other policies in particular to take action to bring an immediate halt to victimless users caught in possession of or for cultivating the cannabis plant for their own use.