A dad has been jailed after he was caught producing thousands of pounds worth of cannabis plants which he was using to treat his broken back.
Computer programmer Cornelius Conn appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday for sentence having previously admitted growing the plants at his home in the city over the course of a year.
The court heard the plants, estimated to be worth between £12,000 and £45,000, were found in a small cupboard and were being grown using an energy saving bulb.
As a result they were not able to reach to their full potential, the court was told.
Representing the 44-year-old, solicitor Christopher Maitland said that this was intentional to allow him to be able to produce only enough to feed his daily habit which he had acquired after he broke the bones in his back.
Mr Maitland said the Conn was unable to find anything else which eased the pain as well as cannabis.
The solicitor urged Sheriff William Summers to allow him to keep his liberty and told the court that Conn was the main carer for his young son as he was able to work from home.
He said his partner had her own business caring for the elderly which resulted in her being out of the house regularly.
Mr Maitland tried to reinforce to the sheriff that the cannabis had only ever been intended for his own use and there was no indication that he had ever supplied it to anyone else.
He said Conn only used it purely for “medicinal purposes”.
Sheriff Summers said he was “not unsympathetic” to Conn’s situation but stressed it did not matter what the cannabis was being grown for.
He said: “So long as the government continues to make it illegal it matters not a jot what he is growing it for.”
The sheriff said Conn, who had a similar previous conviction from 2005, had learned nothing from his last community payback order which was imposed on him.
He added: “You have pled guilty to a charge of cannabis production. I am told it is for medicinal purposes but this makes no difference whatsoever. I recognise the consequences a custodial sentence will have for your family but against that you have a directly analogous conviction.
He sentenced Conn, of 2c Logie Place, Aberdeen to 15 months in prison.