CANNABIS USED FOR PAIN

Had there been a commercial element to Damian Ashley Parker's
cultivation of 45 cannabis plants, he would have been going to jail,
the 29-year-old beneficiary was told in the Dunedin District Court
yesterday.

Parker was before Judge John Macdonald for sentence after earlier
admitting a charge of cultivating cannabis.

Counsel Derek Russell said Parker's sole reason for growing the plants
had been for pain relief because of severe neck pain he had suffered
since a cycling accident in 1992. He was on prescription pain killers
and this had been his first attempt at self medication using cannabis.

Although the police had described the operation as "sophisticated",
that was not the case, Mr Russell said.

Judge Macdonald said he accepted the defendant had a real problem with
pain and this was the reason behind the cultivation. The offence was
Parker's first involving drugs, his only other prior conviction being
one for disorderly behaviour.

Parker was sentenced to 200 hours' community service, the maximum term
available.