A Carlisle man who grew his own cannabis after buying a manual was brought to book after police received complaints about the smell.
Officers went to 38-year-old Carl James Watson’s city home at around at around 9pm on November 10 last year having been informed about the odour.
Watson was open and co-operative, Carlisle Crown Court was told.
“He was asked whether he had a cannabis grow in the property and stated ‘aye, mate, I do’,” said prosecutor Kim Whittlestone.
“Officers found a successful set-up.”
Forty plants contained in an incubator could have yielded 55g of cannabis each, providing a potential total street value of £22,000.
A further kilo of dried cannabis also recovered could possibly have fetched up to £10,000 and other paraphernalia was also seized.
Watson, of Blackwell Road, Carlisle, admitted cannabis production and had, said his lawyer Jeff Smith, learned what to do by buying a book, growing cannabis during a three-month because he couldn’t afford to buy the drug from others during lockdown.
After hearing Watson had latterly reduced his cannabis intake quite dramatically and was doing his best to cut out the class B drug altogether, Recorder Kate Bex QC suspended a nine-month prison sentence for six months.
Watson must complete rehabilitation activity requirement days, and pay £660 court costs.
