British Woman Arrested For Growing A Half-Million Pounds Of Weed, And This Was Not The First Time

A woman in Newquay, UK - a town on the coast of Cornwall in southwest England - was arrested for cultivating more than half-million pounds of cannabis and this is not the first time she's gotten into trouble engaging in the same activity.

This time she told the judge that she was growing it for "horse bedding." 

The woman has prior convictions for growing cannabis on the same site. Appearing court, the 71-year-old Linda Beck admitted to producing 344 mature cannabis plants.  

In September 2019, Cornwall and Devon Police received a tip about her apparent commercial growth due to the strong smell. They found a 120-foot-long polythene tunnel supplied with water and electricity with plants up to seven feet tall about to be harvested with a sales value of £535,000.”

Then again in 2007 and 2010, more than 700 plants were found in her house, which led to a conviction. Beck testified that she  was caring for her sick husband. She was sentenced to a 14-month suspended sentence.

Judge Robert Linford said Beck knows what she's doing in that for the past 15 years she's had run-ins with the law and her neighbors who don't care for the dank smell.

"All these years later you are at it again. Do it again and you are going inside no matter how old you are," Judge Linford said.

Marijuana is not legal in the UK at the moment. Not even personal possession of small amounts is decriminalized; the national medical cannabis program has yet to launch after the country approved it in 2018.

Photo: Courtesy of Ryan Lange on Unsplash