Low-level dealer given chance to end "lifetime commitment" to cannabis

Saturday 20 March 2021

A low-level drug dealer, who smashed a hole in the wall of his flat to help him grow cannabis, has been given 150 hours of community service and a “good luck” from the Royal Court.

Although the Crown were calling for 18 months in prison for Adam William Leighton Ferris, the Royal Court on Friday opted to give the 28-year-old a non-custodial sentence, in recognition of the small amount of cannabis he was found with, his cooperation with the police, his remorse, and his efforts to shake off a “lifetime commitment” to the drug.

Ferris was sentenced for being "concerned in the supply" of 200g of cannabis between April 2019 and last March, conspiring to cultivate cannabis in his bedroom, possessing 108g of herbal cannabis and half a tablet of ecstasy.

When police searched his flat, they also found supply equipment, including scales, and £2,500 in cash, most of it inside plastic wallets labelled ‘cannabis flower’.

Officers also discovered a large hole in a concrete wall of his Andium home - hidden behind the shell of an electric heater - which helped to provide air to a cannabis grow bag.

Later, when interviewed by police, Ferris admitted that he did supply cannabis to a small number of people and any money he made was used to buy the drug for himself.

He also said that the cultivation equipment had not yet been used as he was waiting for a cutting to start the process. He added that he had not used ecstasy for years, and he had forgotten that he still had a half-tablet. 

Pictured: Advocate Sarah Dale was defending Ferris.

The 108g of herbal cannabis were off-cuts and had no street value.  

Defending, Advocate Sarah Dale argued that the Court should give Ferris a non-custodial sentence, not only on the basis of his early guilty plea and cooperation with the police but also his atypical background.

Ferris, she said, had first taken cannabis aged just eight, when his late mother, herself a drug user, had rolled him a joint out of desperation, in an attempt to relieve the pain of his spina bifida.

“For him, cannabis use has been deeply ingrained for most of his life, initiated by his primary career at a very young age,” she said. “This is not someone who chose to self-medicate as an adult; he grew up in a drug-taking environment.”

Advocate Dale said that, in Ferris’s teenage years, cannabis had helped him deal with insomnia and given him confidence in dealing with his disability.

However, she added that Ferris had now stopped taking cannabis and his progress had been “phenomenal”. 

Sentencing, Lieutenant-Bailiff Anthony Olsen, who was sitting with Jurats Ronge and Dulake, agreed with Advocate Dale that, taking all mitigation together, Ferris’s case was an exceptional one and did not warrant a prison sentence.

“It is quite clear that cannabis has been the front and centre of this defendant’s life from a very young age, and he has depended on it to alleviate the pain of spina bifida,” said Jurat Olsen. 

“We have been given a bleak picture of his past and the Court is sure it was not whether but when he would commit an offence.”

However, the judge added that the amount of drugs found was among the smallest the Court had ever come across and Ferris had been extremely cooperative with the police

“Indeed, we don’t think he could not have done more than he did,” added Jurat Olsen.

Concluding that the Court wanted to give Ferris the best chance to continue his positive progress, Jurat Olsen wished the defendant “good luck” as he left the dock.

Ferris was also given a 12-month probation order.