Judge rejects dope farmer’s pain excuse

A CANNABIS farmer has failed to convince a sheriff that he shouldn’t be prosecuted because he smoked dope to relieve pain.

Scott McLamb, 45, set out his “moral and philosophical” view when he appeared in the dock at Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday, claiming he had a bad back and the drug relieved his suffering.

He said the 13 marijuana plants he was caught with were for his own use.

McLamb, from Armadale, West Lothian, appeared for sentence yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to illegally cultivating £2000 worth of the Class B drug.

Sentencing McLamb to be electronically tagged on a 7pm to 7am curfew for 140 days, Sheriff Martin Edington said: “Notwithstanding your philosophical or moral view, this is an offence which is always taken seriously by the court.”