Cannabis granny threatened with eviction

By Charlie Devereux and agencies
Last Updated: 6:22pm GMT 21/03/2007

A 68-year-old grandmother who was recently convicted of possessing and cultivating cannabis will be evicted from her bungalow if she continues using the drug, her housing association said today.

Patricia Tabram self-medicates with cannabis to ease her depression.

Patricia Tabram, who claims the drug helps her fight depression and other ailments, was found guilty earlier this month of growing cannabis plants in a wardrobe in her home in Humshaugh, Northumberland.

Milecastle Housing, the association with which she is a tenant, held a board meeting to discuss her future, and decided not to evict her immediately.

"The board of Milecastle Housing has agreed to apply to the court for a possession order, suspended for up to two years, in respect of the home in which Mrs Patricia Tabram lives in Humshaugh, Northumberland," said tenant services manager Chris Scott after the meeting.

"If the order is granted, she will be allowed to continue living at the property only as long as she observes the terms of her tenancy agreement and specifically does not cultivate, possess or use cannabis in the property.

"Mrs Tabram has been informed of the situation and that her right to remain a resident in the Milecastle property depends entirely upon her behaviour," he said.

Mr Scott said he hoped the decision by the Milecastle Housing would show them to be a "a responsible and caring landlord" which nonetheless was "prepared to take the ultimate sanction with residents who break the terms of their tenancy."

In April 2005 Mrs Tabram was given a two-year suspended jail sentence after Northumbria Police discovered she was supplying other elderly and infirm people in her area with cakes, casseroles and curries laced with cannabis.

The mother-of-three vowed after her latest brush with the law to carry on using cannabis, which she said was much more effective and less harmful than prescription drugs she used to take to battle the depression she has suffered since 1975 when she found her 14-year-old son dead in his bed.

She said cannabis also helps her overcome the aches and pains sustained from two car crashes and that it gives her "better relief than you get from morphine."

This is where we need psychologists who dont just prescribe drugs.

In the UK:

Psychologists
Clinical psychologists have specialist postgraduate training but they're not medical doctors and do not prescribe drugs. They can help with a variety of problems connected with health and wellbeing, including depression, sexual or relationship difficulties, eating disorders, the effects of trauma and problems with alcohol or drugs. They normally offer psychological talking treatments.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/men...y_experts.shtml

I'm always put off the idea of psychotherapy since reading "The Wrong Boy" by Willy Russell. In it he describes his psychotherapist as "psycho the rapist"!

Cannabis has been used for centuries with very little negative side effects which cannot be said for a great many prescribed drugs. How can something that grows quite naturally all over the world be against the law, it's like banning apples. The lethal dose of cannabis is only lethal because it might fall on you being thrown from a window as the law demands instant justice. What a fuss about nothing.

People should just mind their own business. Peaceful drug utilizers who harm no one should be left alone.

I tend to agree with Rick, its not like the Granny will be commiting grand theft auto, she sounds like she has it pretty rough as it is. One has to ask, if she didnt have this, would she have done harm to herself? Would she be psychologically damaged and/or physically?

I think the positive effects of the substance outweigh the negative ones in this particular case. In general I am against drug use, but she sounds like she was prescribed medical morphine anyways. If she is unable to cope with her reality, then she either needs a new one or an escape from her current one.