A 59-YEAR-OLD Blackburn man turned to cannabis to ease the pain that prescription drugs were failing to cope with.

Blackburn magistrates heard that instead of getting his "medication" from street dealers John Paul Brook decided to grow his own. Brook, of New Bank Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to cultivating 13 cannabis plants. He was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £75 costs.

The magistrates ordered the confiscation of the plants and drug growing paraphernalia removed from his home. Wendy Chappell, prosecuting, said police discovered the plants and equipment in a bedroom and the loft.

Miss Sarah Perkins, defending, said the first Brook had known of the police raid was when he woke to find a police woman in his bedroom. "He told the officers what the plants were and fully admitted that he was responsible," said Miss Perkins. She said Brook had worked until 1994 when he had been forced to give up because of various health problems.

"Despite numerous types of medication prescribed by his GP, he finds there is nothing that eases the pain like cannabis," said Miss Perkins. "He would rather grow the cannabis for his own personal use rather than go to a street dealer."