Pubdate: Thu, 08 Mar 2007
Source: Manchester Evening News (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Manchester Evening News
Contact:  http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1313
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

CANNABIS GRAN TO DEFY JUDGE

A GRANDMOTHER convicted of growing and possessing cannabis has
vowed to defy the judge and continue using the drug as medication.

Patricia Tabram, 68, was ordered to do 250 hours' unpaid
work.

It was her second drugs offence and it could see her evicted from her
housing association bungalow.

But the unrepetnant gran, who cooks with cannabis to ease depression
aches and pains, said outside Carlisle Crown Court: "I am still going to
medicate with cannabis.

"This court is not fit for purpose and I am taking up an appeal and
putting in a complaint about the fact I was not allowed to have a defence.

"The law and justice do not exist in this country any
more."

Flanked by well-wishers, she said she would continue the fight and was
prepared to go to jail.

Judge Barbara Forrester ordered Tabram, from Humsaugh, Northumberland,
to carry out 175 hours' unpaid work for cultivating four cannabis
plants and a further 75 hours for possessing powdered cannabis which
she stored in her kitchen and added to cakes, curries, casseroles and
soups.

She was also ordered to pay UKP1,000 costs.

The court heard she used cannabis to fight the depression she has
suffered since 1975 when she discovered her 14-year-old son dead in
his bed.

It also eased aches and pains which persisted as a result of two car
crashes.

Tabram was in breach of a six-month suspended jail sentence when
police raided her home in September 2005.

Earlier, the trial threatened to descend into chaos when Tabram, a
mother of three, claimed cannabis she had smuggled into court in her
bra had gone missing.

She claimed she had left three small bags locked in the courtroom
overnight.

A search was mounted, but after two hours Tabram found the cannabis,
which she planned to produce as evidence, in her handbag.
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