MAN GREW CANNABIS TO BEAT DEALERS

A Sheffield delivery driver who smoked cannabis but refused to buy it from
dealers set up his own farm.

But now 23-year-old Daniel Bonsall has vowed never to touch the drug again
after police raided his Sheffield home. They discovered a sophisticated
hydroponic system with high power lights in his cellar along with 84
cannabis plants.

In the bathroom police found a plastic bag containing discarded
flower-heads, described in Sheffield Crown Court as "wastage". Bonsall told
police he had been using cannabis since he was 14.

He said he did not trust dealers and decided to set up his own plant after
selling his car to buy the equipment which grew the plants.

Bonsall, of Hollinsend Road, Intake, pleaded guilty to cultivating and
possessing cannabis on February 18 and was sentenced to 150 hours community
service order and ordered to pay 100 pounds costs.

Jason Hill, defending, told the court: "These proceedings have been a severe
jolt to him and he has since abandoned cannabis.

"He wanted to avoid dealers," Mr Hill added.