Boss grew cannabis for relief

A businessman who grew 300 cannabis plants in sheds at the back of his garden has avoided jail after claiming they were for his own pain relief.

Jason Kiernan damaged his spine in a car crash so he grew and ate the plants to relieve the pain, Wolverhampton Magistrates Court heard.

The 33-year-old pleaded guilty to cultivating the cannabis in three purpose-built sheds at one of his numerous houses, in Links Road, Penn, Wolverhampton.

When police seized the cannabis plants they also found £7,000 cash at the property, during a raid in September, the court heard yesterday.

Mr Paul Cardwell, prosecuting, said there were around 300 plants in all stages of growth that were kept warm by light bulbs in the sheds.

“He seems to be growing an awful lot for his personal use, but there is absolutely no evidence of him dealing at all,” he said. Kiernan, who runs a commercial vehicle company and works as a long distance lorry driver at weekends, was told he faced up to six months in jail for the scale of the operation.

But district judge Shamim Quereshi gave him a four-month jail term that was suspended for two years.

Tagged

Kiernan will be electronically tagged for two months with a curfew to stay at home between 9pm and 6am from Monday to Friday, and was ordered to pay £100 costs. The drugs will be destroyed.

Mr Quereshi said: “The use of cannabis for pain relief goes back a long time and indeed Queen Victoria is famous for using it. But Parliament makes a decision about what is lawful and not lawful and the normal sentence would be six months imprisonment.”

Kiernan told the court he had a type of bacteria called H-pylori that is linked with stomach ulcers, so he could not take pills to help his back and neck pain. He said he turned to cannabis as an alternative.

He told the court: “I would be a fool to attempt to grow cannabis again, it was obviously a short-term measure.”

Speaking after the case, he told the Express & Star: “I was hit side-on by a van and the accident has restricted me quite a lot.

“I tried cannabis and I think it is wrong I cannot grow a fully natural plant to use for pain relief - it made a damn lot of difference between being able to go about my daily life and not.”