"I GREW CANNABIS TO EASE MY PAIN"

A BLACKBURN man trying to alleviate back pain, following an
industrial accident, resorted to growing cannabis, a court was told.

A court heard how Anthony Aspinall, 51, found buying the drug costly.

He then obtained some cannabis plants, which were seized when police
searched his home in Gloucester Road.

A judge at Preston Crown Court gave him a two-year conditional
discharge after he admitted an offence of cultivating cannabis.

Miss Amy Nicholson, prosecuting, said police found ten large mature
cannabis plants being grown at the address, with the use of a
hydroponic system.

Miss Judith McCullough, defending, said the drug cultivation had been
an "amateur production".

A serious industrial accident 11 years ago had caused a chipped
vertebrae in his spine.

Aspinall received hospital treatment, but the condition grew steadily
worse, she said.