TOO MUCH DOPE

A plea that a Murchison farmer in "significant daily pain" used cannabis to
help him sleep failed to save him from a 16-month prison sentence.

The Nelson District Court heard that Kimberley Troy Nicholas, 39, had
endured more than 20 operations involving hundreds of pins and plates, and
at one stage had been on morphine for three years.

But Judge David McKegg said the 60 plants found on his property seemed to
go "well beyond a modest personal usage for pain relief".

He granted Nicholas leave to apply for home detention and deferred his
sentence for two months for medical reasons.