Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jan 2005
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2005 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Author: Paul Stokes

GRANDMOTHER RAN CANNABIS COOKERY CLUB FOR NEIGHBOURS

A retired restaurateur has admitted raising a kitty with other 
pensioners to buy cannabis which she used in her recipes for 
"medicinal purposes".

Patricia Tabram, a grey-haired grandmother, turned to the drug in 
an attempt to offset the effects of tinnitus, mild depression and 
pains after a car crash.

She began using it in soups, cakes and hot pots in her country 
kitchen and introduced others to the secret ingredient. Police 
raided her stone-built cottage in the village of Humshaugh, near 
Hexham, Northumberland, after a tip-off.

Tabram, 66, was formally cautioned in May last year for possession 
and cultivation of cannabis after 10in high plants were found 
growing in her loft. A month later she was caught with 242gms of 
the drug worth around ukp850 and self-seal bags for distribution 
to other people who she declined to name.

She told police that she had clubbed together with a group of 
elderly people to obtain cannabis for various medicinal reasons. 
Carl Gumsley, her defence counsel, told Newcastle Crown Court: 
"She had purchased it on their behalf."

Tabram admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply and 
sentence was adjourned until March 11 to await reports from a 
probation officer and psychologist. She appeared in court in 
spectacles and a black cardigan and was remanded on bail with a 
condition of residence.

Wearing a woollen shawl in her well-stocked kitchen after the 
hearing, she said that she was writing a book entitled Grandma 
Eats Cannabis.

She said: "If they send me to jail I can finish writing my book about 
the merits of medicinal, herbal cannabis. I want people to know 
NHS medicines are poisoning them instead of treating their illness. 
If Jeffrey Archer can write a book in prison, so can I."

Tabram ran the Zodiac Centre restaurant in Edinburgh with her 
former husband and suffered depression after the death of her 14-
year-old son Duncan in 1975. Her second husband died from 
cancer, she suffers from a lower back injury sustained in a road 
crash and also has arthritic knees.

She said: "Several friends found out my interest and how I liked to 
bake it in my food to help ease my ailment. I have taught others 
how to cook with it."

Tabram admitted to being scared when she first began travelling to 
Byker, Newcastle, to obtain the drug.

She said: "I had been going by bus to get small amounts at around 
ukp20 a time. It was all I could afford as a pensioner. It was used in 
the cooking. When I got a chance to get more and help out friends, 
I met a supplier. I hadn't asked them to contribute, they wanted the 
stuff to help them relieve pain."

Police seized the drug, along with diaries, nail scissors and books, 
at her home before she had time to distribute it to the people she 
says had put in around ukp150 each.

Tabram added: "The first time I had it, it was a friend who gave me 
a cannabis cigarette, but that only gives you a high for about 30 
minutes. I researched it on the internet and found that if you took 
just a little bit of it with your food the effects last for five hours or 
more.

"So I started to make cannabis chocolate cake and that covered all 
the pain I had so well. I cook for everybody, all the neighbours, and 
I am teaching them so they can cook some of the things 
themselves.

"The most popular recipes I have are for lemon and lime 
cheesecake and chicken and leek pie. I want to publish a cook book 
with all of them in." 
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MAP posted-by: Josh