Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jan 2005
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Ltd 2005
Contact:  http://www.scotsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/406
Author: Rod Minchin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

CANNABIS-COOKING GRANNY DEFIANT DESPITE BEING BUST

Pottering about her kitchen with her grey hair and spectacles, grandmother 
Patricia Tabram cuts an unlikely figure as a drug dealer.

But the sprightly 66-year-old, who prides herself on her home-made herbal 
cookies, casseroles and soups, has admitted possessing cannabis with intent 
to supply from her home in East Lea, in Humshaugh, near Hexham, Northumberland.

She has cooked up treats laced with the drug for neighbours and friends in 
her village after being introduced to it last year.

A defiant Mrs Tabram told the Press Association today from the sitting room 
of her remote bungalow: "Friends introduced me to cannabis in February 2004 
when they gave me a cigarette.

"I suffer from depression, whiplash in my neck and back pain. I went to bed 
and the next morning I felt so much better.

"I didn't know what I had taken so I asked my friends. They said it was 
cannabis.

"But I don't like smoking so they said I could cook with it."

Soon, the grandmother-of-two began cooking regularly for friends with food 
laced with the illegal herb.

However, Northumbria Police were tipped off about the savoury smells and 
activities coming from Mrs Tabram's bungalow and twice raided her house in 
May and June.

They seized 31 cannabis plants growing in her loft and another one from her 
hallway table, which officers had missed until Mrs Tabram pointed it out.

"When the police came to my door I invited them in," she said.

"They said I had been growing cannabis plants in my shed. They went to look 
for them but didn't find anything.

"I told them to look in the loft and I offered them some tea and biscuits."

The teetotal grandmother added: "From the way the police were talking you 
would think I was the biggest criminal in Hexham."

As she sits in her armchair, she rings her friends to tell of her 
newly-found celebrity status.

"It's grandma here," she says, as she talks to one neighbour.

There's a knock at the door. Another friend had come to see her.

Not wishing to give his name, the man in his 20s, said: "To say she is 
convicted drug dealer is just crazy, if you ask me.

"It is terrible the way she has been treated by the police and the courts.

"She is 66 years old and is classed as a drug dealer. The police keep 
picking on her yet they do nothing about cocaine dealers round here."

Mrs Tabram, a former chef, has continued to cook, making her chicken and 
leek pies, curries, beef casseroles, chocolate cakes and biscuits -- but 
has left out the illegal herb from the recipes.
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