The Public Must Pay for An Unjust Law

"Does anybody really think that locking this man up will help him or anybody else.

"So he tried to overcome his grief with alcohol which made him violent, so replaced it with cannabis that made him non-violent, then he gets locked up?

"And how could the cannabis have been worth any money unless she intended to sell it, yet the Judge accepted it was not for sale!

"It is a shame that this man is locked up and it is a shame the taxpayer will have to pay - EVERYONE loses except the police and court officials of course, who earn part of their living out of this sort of injustice"

The Sentinel, September 14 2012

Grief-stricken son set up drugs farm after parents died

GRIEVING Daniel King has been jailed after setting up a cannabis factory in his loft.
The 27-year-old turned to drugs following the death of his parents, and grew cannabis plants at his Joiners Square home to avoid contact with dealers.
But police raided the Cornes Street property in December and found 22 plants and equipment such as heating lamps, transformers and hydroponics trays.
They also discovered that King had bypassed his electricity meter in order to power the farm.
King was jailed for 16 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court after pleading guilty to producing cannabis and abstracting electricity.
Prosecutor David Bennett told the court that King's factory could have produced cannabis worth up to £3,500 in a single crop, while the stolen electricity was valued at £1,743.
Mr Bennett said: "At 10pm on December 14 police officers attended the address after being told there was a burglary in progress at the premises. They could smell cannabis, and saw a trail of cannabis leaves leading from the rear living room up the stairs.
"In the loft area they found a greenhouse-like structure with three hydroponics trays and 22 cannabis plants. The officers left the premises and when the defendant returned they arrested him in the street outside."
Mr Bennett told the court that at the time of King's arrest he had a suspended sentence of six months hanging over him.
This dated from a conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm from 2010.
Angela Berrisford, mitigating, said King had struggled to cope with the death of his parents and had suffered mental health issues.
She said: "His parents died in relatively quick succession and he has struggled to deal with that. His mental health deteriorated and he has suffered from depression and psychosis.
"What he realised following his conviction for assault is that he was drinking too much. Unfortunately he did not go back to get medical support, but effectively substituted the alcohol with cannabis.
"He didn't want to associate with the people who supplied him with cannabis, and so he decided to produce the cannabis himself. He undertook limited research on the internet, but a lot of the equipment was not set up, as he did not have the knowledge to work out what went where."
Judge Robert Trevor-Jones sentenced King to 12 months for growing cannabis, three months consecutive for abstracting electricity, and activated one month of his suspended sentence.
He said: "You clearly and deliberately set about establishing sufficient equipment at your disposal to successful grow a crop of cannabis in the loft of your home.
"But I accept that the cannabis was for your own use."

Cannabis user produced drug for own use

Sirs

If Robert Westwood grew cannabis plants for in his house for his own use, why on earth was he taken to court at public expense and given a community order ("Cannabis user produced drug for own use", The Sentinel, June 11th)

Police searched the van and recovered eight bags of cannabis weighing a total of 17 grams with a street value of £100. Westwood said the drugs were for his own use.

But isn't it strange that a value of £100 was put on those 8 bags, by somebody, even though they were apparently not for sale - and why?

And why do we the taxpayer get charged so much every year to cover the twenty billion pounds spent fighting drugs when there is just as much on the street, maybe more than ever - yet a man growing a few plants for himself gets arrested and taken to court which costs hundreds of pounds?

There is something seriously wrong with the Government's policy of prohibition that more and more people recognise as an absolute failure and disaster - it mostly punishes the very people the law ought to protect from crime, exposes them to crime, costs us all a fortune and criminalises tens of millions of people in the UK that are not doing any harm to anyone else.

Those that do harm - steal or rob to raise money to buy drugs - of course they should be punished.

But the others like Mr Westwood, should be left alone

Alun Buffry
Norwich

in response to
Cannabis user produced drug for own use
The Sentinel, Stoke, June 11 2011

CANNABIS user Robert Westwood has been handed a community order after he grew the drug in his house.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court yesterday heard police stopped a Mercedes van in Corporation Street, Stoke, which was being driven by the defendant, at 11.20pm on November 7.
Police searched the van and recovered eight bags of cannabis weighing a total of 17 grams with a street value of £100. Westwood said the drugs were for his own use.
Police then searched the defendant's home in Jubilee Avenue, Etruria. Inside officers found 12 plants and hydroponic equipment and lighting.
There was more cannabis in a "drying tent". A fingerprint from a pole in the growing room matched Westwood's.
He told police he bought the eight bags of cannabis found in his van. He accepted he grew the plants at his home and said it was all for his own use.
The 43-year-old defendant, of Quarry Road, Hartshill, pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and possession of cannabis resin.
Nick Tatlow, mitigating, said Westwood was a very heavy user of cannabis when he committed the offences.
He said the estimated yield of the plants was quite high because Westwood has abilities as a grower.
Mr Tatlow added that Westwood had greatly cut down his cannabis use.
Judge Michael Dudley sentenced Westwood to a 12-month community order with 160 hours' unpaid work.
He told the defendant: "You are being sentenced on the basis all the cannabis was for your own use and there was no suggestion of supply to anyone. That's what saved you from a custodial sentence."

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Cannabis-user-produced-drug-use/story-12754172-detail/story.html

Jail for cannabis user

CANNABIS user Darren Edge has been jailed after he breached a community order.

The order was put in place after Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard police found 41.1 grams of the class-B drug worth £175 and 19.4 grams worth £80 at the defendant's home in Dundee Road, Etruria, on October 22, 2009.
Joanne Wallbanks, mitigating, said Edge, aged 31, uses cannabis for pain relief but has reduced his intake.
Judge Robert Trevor-Jones re-sentenced Edge to five months in prison.

 

It doesn't sound like Mr Edge has harmed anyone due to his possession of cannabis or breach of the order - and in fact it may well be that he has little choice but you use cannabis to ease his pain .. so .. why has he been sent to prison - I cannot see how it can possibly be in the public interest and as Bob comments - at taxpayers expense

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/news/Jail-cannabis-user/article-3503117-detail/article.html