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A 35-year-old man who grew cannabis to ease chronic back pain has been jailed for four months.
Sophisticated hydroponic growing equipment and seeds, cannabis plants and dried plant material with a potential value of UKP 16,000 were found by police when they raided Jason Chinnery's home.
Ipswich Crown Court heard Chinnery, of Tonning Street, Lowestoft, admitted producing cannabis plants and supplying a small amount of cannabis to a friend.
Andrew Shaw, prosecuting, said that officers who executed a search warrant at Chinnery's home in November found paraphernalia for growing cannabis and 112 plants at various stages of maturity.
Also recovered were dried cannabis flowers worth UKP 266 and a bag of cannabis leaf valued at UKP 4400.
Mr Shaw said that if the 112 plants had grown to maturity the dried flowers could have been worth between UKP 9500 and UKP 16400 and the leaf material between UKP 1100 and UKP 3400.
Chinnery admitted constructing the hydroponic system six months earlier and said the plants seized by police were his second or third crop.
He explained that he used between half an ounce and one ounce of cannabis a day to relieve chronic back pain.
And he admitted giving half a butt of cannabis to a friend in Norwich three weeks earlier.
Paul Raudnitz, mitigating, said Chinnery had been suffering from chronic back pain for 16 years since he did some heavy lifting work at the age of 19.
There had been a severe deterioration in his condition in the last five years and he had become immune to painkillers he was taking as well as suffering side effects from their prolonged use.
Recorder Nicola Padfield said at the hearing on Wednesday that courts took the production of cannabis very seriously and she was unable to find any exceptional circumstances in his case that would allow her to suspend his sentence.
She also refused an application for Chinnery to be released on bail pending an appeal.
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26-09-2005, 01:08
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