SWANSEA CROWN COURT HEARS HOW PEMBROKE DOCK CANNABIS CAMPAIGNER HAS
TURNED OVER A NEW LEAF

A Pembroke Dock man who has campaigned for the legalisation of
cannabis for medical purposes for the last 15 years has turned over a
new leaf, a judge heard on Friday.

Eric Mann, a retired oil refinery supervisor, served two prison
sentences while taking on the government in a bid for those suffering
chronic pain to be allowed to take cannabis for pain relief.

Mann, now 66, was caught yet again on October 15 last year when
police executed a search warrant at his home in Harbour Way, Pembroke Dock.

They found he had converted the attic into a mini cannabis factory.
Twenty five plants were growing and they could have produced drugs
with a street value of between ?3,571 and ?7,857.

Judge Keith Thomas said he noted that the prosecution accepted that
Mann would have used all the drugs himself and not sold any on.

Edward Moss, prosecuting, said during police interviews Mann admitted
cultivating "one or two crops a year" to alleviate the pain caused by
the chronic arthritis he suffered from.

At a hearing earlier this year Mann had persuaded the judge to delay
his case until what he described as a "landmark hearing" had taken
place in London.

The defendant in that case, he said, was being backed by the Drugs
Equality Alliance and the outcome might affect his own situation.

But when Mann attended Swansea crown court to be sentenced for an
offence of cultivating cannabis, which he admitted, the situation had
changed dramatically.

Mann said he no longer took cannabis and had no intention of
cultivating any more.

He told Judge Thomas he had discovered a diet that worked better than
taking cannabis and would not involve himself in the drug in the future.

Judge Thomas said he was pleased to hear that and made Mann the
subject of a 12 month supervision order.