British police have decided not to press any charges against the elderly couple who had been unknowingly cultivating a huge cannabis plant in their garden.
A police spokeswoman told CNN: "The plant was mistakenly bought by the elderly couple. We will not be pressing any charges. We have seized it and will dispose it." She also said that unlike what has been reported in some newspapers there was no "raid."' "The property was not raided," she said.
Cannabis is classified as a Class B drug in Britain under the Misuse of Drugs Act. The maximum penalty for supplying or producing cannabis is 14 years imprisonment and/or unlimited fine.
The cannabis plant has psychoactive compounds with mood and behavior-altering properties. The plant is used both for making recreational drugs and medicine. Organized crime gangs have often used in-house cannabis farms to produce the high-strength "skunk" version of the drug.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/09/world/europe/uk-cannabis/index.html?hpt=wo_c2
Replies
How do you unknowingly buy a cannabis plant? I think they should have been charged. There is just no way.
It's good that they didn't arrest them for having the plant. It's kind of funny that they mistakenly bought the plant. I wonder if the person that sold them the plant was aware of what it was. 14 years imprisonment for possessing the plant seems kind of excessive to me.
I think the police were right because they didn't know it was by an accident when they bought it.
I am thankful for them not getting arested, it was a simple mistake. So, i think the police did the righ thing. I bet the couple was shocked. I would be, defiantly not expected!
i think it was good that the police did not arest the couple for the mistake. but they had the choice to arrest them if they wanted to.
i see why no charges were pressed against this couple because they didn't purposely buy this plant. Even though this plant used fro medicine.
I wonder who they bought it from. Its a good thing they didn't get arrested because they didn't know what it was. I wonder where they got it from like a store or a person?
I'm not surprised at all that the police didn't press charges, because why would an elderly couple grow a cannabis plant especially where people could see it. If they would've been using it as drugs, then I'm sure they would've grown it inside.
I think that the police did the right thing about how they handled the situation, but the old prople could have been lying and they could be like drug dealers for old people. People in england are weird you never know.
i could see why the police did not arrest the couple because of the fact it was a mistake. There are many reasons why they could have mistakenly bought it if you think about it.