62YO JAILED FOR GROWING CANNABIS

A 62-year-old beneficiary who admitted growing cannabis primarily for
his terminally ill wife got some mercy from a judge but was still
packed off to prison.

Appearing for sentencing in Tauranga District Court today on charges
of possessing cannabis for supply and cultivating it, Richard Gary Alp
got six months behind bars.

"Drug dealing is insidious and drug dealers go to jail," said Judge
Thomas Ingram, who allowed Alp's adult son to step forward from a
group of supporters sitting in the back of the court and plead
leniency for his father.

In the six years his mother was critically ill and mostly bedridden,
cannabis helped give her comfort and relief from pain, the son said.

"I can't blame him (Richard Alp). He is not a bad person."

In the dock, hands clasped behind his back, the defendant battled to
control his emotion.

Judge Ingram said he had considerable sympathy and was prepared to be
merciful, cutting the term of imprisonment down to a fraction of what
it would otherwise be.

"But let's get it clear: your dad's a drug dealer and drug dealers go
to jail."

Alp had prior cannabis convictions, he said.

Home detention, which lawyer Nicholas Dutch argued for, "sends
entirely the wrong message".

The judge said Alp's home was raided last October, months after his
wife had died.

Police found two ziplock bags containing 37g of cannabis head. In a
skip bin at the side of the house were stripped cannabis plants and 10
seedlings about 15cm high were in the vegetable patch.

A garden shed at the back of the section was boarded shut from inside
and access was from a door hidden under a workbench in an adjoining
shed.

Seven cannabis plants weighing 1815g were drying and would have had a
street value of more than $10,000 when broken down into tinnies.

"It was a fairly sophisticated operation," said Judge
Ingram.

The drying room was fully lined with PVC and there were two extractor
fans on the rear wall.

Police also discovered other cannabis growing aids including two heat
lamps, power timers and a thermostat.

Alp told officers he had been given the 37g of cannabis for his own
use. He had grown the seedlings and built the drying room.

The judge said Alp got a final warning in November 2002 when he was
convicted of selling cannabis and possessing seeds.