Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jan 2005
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Olga Craig / Sunday Telegraph (UK)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

'GRANDMA PAT' FIGHTS FOR RIGHT TO PUT CANNABIS IN HER COCOA

A 65-year-old British widow faces charges after trying to distribute
the drug to her pensioners' group, writes Olga Craig in London

Olga Craig in London The Sunday Telegraph

For Patricia Tabram, known to the children of her home village of
Hums-haugh, in Northumberland, as Grandma Pat, the ailing pensioner,
who always has time for a kind word or a friendly hug, it was a rather
surreal moment.

"There I was, dear, grey as a badger, tubby as a conference pear in my
best coat, with my hearing aid turned up and my walking stick in my
hand, sitting in the police station listening to the nice policeman
telling me that I was being charged with possession of cannabis with
the intent to supply. Well, it was rather an experience I can tell
you," she says.

"Some cake with your coffee?" she asks solicitously. It is best, one
believes, to say no.

It is best because Mrs Tabram, a 65-year-old widow, has the dubious
honour of becoming the first British pensioner to admit possessing the
drug and intending to distribute it among her 16-strong pensioners'
group.

Cannabis, taken for pain, she confides, works best in milk, oil,
chocolate and butter. She says its pain-relieving properties have
freed her from agonizing incapacity. "Oh it's wonderful for aches and
pains when you get to my age," Mrs. Tabram says enthusiastically.
"None of us takes it for any other reason. I no longer wear my
surgical collar, my back and legs no longer ache from arthritis.
Cannabis in our food, properly administered, has given us freedom from
pain."

Her pensioners' parties have ceased, however. Mrs. Tabram was formally
cautioned in May last year for possession and cultivation of cannabis.
A month later she was caught with 242 grams of the drug, worth about
$2,000. Now the grandmother awaits sentencing next month, following a
court's decision to seek reports from a probation officer and a
psychologist.

None of this, however, bothers Mrs. Tabram. She is quite prepared to
go to jail to fight for what she says is a valid form of pain relief.

Mrs. Tabram bakes cannabis in her leek-and-chicken pie and stirs it
into her evening hot chocolate. The grandmother is even writing a
book, entitled Grandma Eats Cannabis.

Mrs. Tabram first tried cannabis after suffering a severe bout of
depression. A friend offered her "a hand-rolled cigarette" to help
calm her. "More importantly, the next morning the agonizing pain I
have suffered for years from arthritis and whiplash injuries in a car
crash had gone. It was as though my aching limbs were shrouded in a
goose-down duvet."

Before long, Mrs Tabram's new lease of life was noticed in her
village. A multiple-sclerosis sufferer got in touch, and more elderly
folk followed. All asked for cannabis to free them from pain. Mrs.
Tabram realized she needed a bulk supply. She found a source and she
and her friends pooled their money. She remains unremorseful. "If jail
it is, then so be it."
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MAP posted-by: Derek