[420 Girl]

A MAN claimed he grew a cannabis farm in his home because he didn't want to get dodgy drugs from dealers.

Lee Ryan, 23, told a court he was growing 29 cannabis plants in his bedroom to avoid buying drugs that had been contaminated with fibreglass.

Ryan was arrested after a raid on his home uncovered the haul with a potential street value of UKP29,000.

The recreational drug user told Hartlepool Magistrates' Court he did it for safety reasons after reading a news story warning cannabis smokers that fibreglass was being mixed into cannabis resin.

The Mail reported in January that there was a countrywide trend of cannabis resin being peppered with fibreglass to bulk up its weight and that drug workers in Hartlepool were on red alert to seize contaminated drugs.

Neil Taylor, mitigating, said: "He decided that if that was true, it was dangerous and something he did not want to get involved in and he would cultivate his own and it would be cheaper and safer because he would know what was in it."

Prosecutor Samantha Morgan-Baylis told the court that Ryan's home, in Calder Grove, Hartlepool, was searched by police on October 22.

She said: "Officers found cannabis in the form of 29 plants in a bedroom with the usual paraphernalia."

A further search revealed a quantity of cannabis resin in the kitchen and Ryan was arrested and made full admissions in interview, the prosecutor said.

"He told officers that he had been growing the plants for four weeks and that he was aware that it was unlawful," said Mrs Morgan-Baylis.

"Asked about the cannabis resin, he said that he bought it two days earlier for UKP200."

He said that it was for his personal use and he smoked an ounce a week, the court heard.

Mr Taylor said there is no suggestion that Ryan, who was previously unconvicted, intended to supply and there is no way of putting a value on the plants because they had not matured.

Ryan, who pleaded guilty to cultivating a controlled drug and possessing a controlled class C drug, was fined UKP200.

They ordered him to pay UKP60 court costs and a UKP15 surcharge. Magistrates also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.

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