Pubdate: Fri, 20 Feb 2009 Source: Dominion Post, The (New Zealand) Copyright: 2009 The Dominion Post Contact: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2550 Website: http://www.dompost.co.nz Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?251 (Cannabis - New Zealand) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) 62YO JAILED FOR GROWING CANNABIS A 62-year-old beneficiary who admitted growing cannabis primarily for his terminally ill wife got some mercy from a judge but was still packed off to prison. Appearing for sentencing in Tauranga District Court today on charges of possessing cannabis for supply and cultivating it, Richard Gary Alp got six months behind bars. "Drug dealing is insidious and drug dealers go to jail," said Judge Thomas Ingram, who allowed Alp's adult son to step forward from a group of supporters sitting in the back of the court and plead leniency for his father. In the six years his mother was critically ill and mostly bedridden, cannabis helped give her comfort and relief from pain, the son said. "I can't blame him (Richard Alp). He is not a bad person." In the dock, hands clasped behind his back, the defendant battled to control his emotion. Judge Ingram said he had considerable sympathy and was prepared to be merciful, cutting the term of imprisonment down to a fraction of what it would otherwise be. "But let's get it clear: your dad's a drug dealer and drug dealers go to jail." Alp had prior cannabis convictions, he said. Home detention, which lawyer Nicholas Dutch argued for, "sends entirely the wrong message". The judge said Alp's home was raided last October, months after his wife had died. Police found two ziplock bags containing 37g of cannabis head. In a skip bin at the side of the house were stripped cannabis plants and 10 seedlings about 15cm high were in the vegetable patch. A garden shed at the back of the section was boarded shut from inside and access was from a door hidden under a workbench in an adjoining shed. Seven cannabis plants weighing 1815g were drying and would have had a street value of more than $10,000 when broken down into tinnies. "It was a fairly sophisticated operation," said Judge Ingram. The drying room was fully lined with PVC and there were two extractor fans on the rear wall. Police also discovered other cannabis growing aids including two heat lamps, power timers and a thermostat. Alp told officers he had been given the 37g of cannabis for his own use. He had grown the seedlings and built the drying room. The judge said Alp got a final warning in November 2002 when he was convicted of selling cannabis and possessing seeds. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin