Patricia Tabram, a 68-year-old former chef from Humshaugh in Northumberland, was convicted at Carlisle Crown Court of growing four cannabis plants in her wardrobe and keeping powdered cannabis in her kitchen to stir into cakes, curries, casseroles and soups.[1][2] A jury took less than 15 minutes to find her guilty of cultivation and possession after she told the court she used the drug to ease depression and aches from two car crashes and did not want prescription drugs.[1][2] Judge Barbara Forrester accepted the cannabis was for personal use and self-medication, ordered her to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work, 175 for cultivation and 75 for possession, and to pay 1,000 pounds in costs.[2] The judge said a custodial sentence was not necessary but warned that possession, cultivation or supply remained criminal offences that could lead to prison.[2]
Tabram had been given a six-month suspended jail sentence in April 2005 for supplying cannabis in curries, casseroles and cakes to other elderly and infirm people near her bungalow; five months later officers acting on a tip-off raided her home and found the plants and growing equipment.[2][3] She had stood for parliament in 2005 on a pro-cannabis ticket, and on the first day of her 2007 trial she smuggled bags of cannabis into court in her bra as listed evidence.[1] Outside court she said she would keep medicating with cannabis and appeal, calling the court not fit for purpose.[2] Her housing association threatened eviction, but after a Newcastle county court hearing in July 2007 she was told she could keep using cannabis at home unless reconvicted of cultivation or supply within two years.[3]
