A Ross man who set up a 'sophisticated' foil-lined tent in his home to grow cannabis to feed his lifelong drug habit has narrowly avoided going to jail. Karl Smith, 36, of Gloucester Road, Ross, was arrested when he and two other men in a car in Llanthony road, Gloucester, were stopped by police on July 19th last year. The car smelt strongly of cannabis and at the police station Smith admitted he had some of the drugs at home, prosecutor Mary Harley told Gloucester crown court,

When officers went to his house they found a tall tent, lined with foil and with electric lighting inside it, said Mrs Harley. It contained two large and three smaller cannabis plants. Cannabis was also laid out to dry. The plants and drying cannabis together would have produced 447 grams of the drug with a street value of £4,500, said Mrs Harley. Smith had previous convictions for possession of the drug, she added.

Jon Holmes, defending, said Smith had been an habitual user of cannabis since he was 14 but argued that Smith was not a dealer and he did not smoke cannabis in public. His growing of the drug was purely for his own use in private at home and he did it not just because it was cheaper but because he could have confidence that it was not contaminated in any way, said Mr Holmes.

"He has health issues," the solicitor said. "He has depression and he finds that cannabis helps with that. He says it helps him get through the morning and it is the best possible anti depressant."

Judge Evans said she was concerned to find a way of dealing with Smith which would ensure he does not carry on growing and using cannabis in future.

She adjourned for the probation service to make enquiries about an alternative form of sentence which would help Smith stay off cannabis.

Probation officer Patrick Tracey then told the court that a supervision order with referral to local drug agencies would be appropriate.

Judge Evans told Smith: "You were growing cannabis under relatively sophisticated conditions. This is seriously aggravated by your previous cannabis related convictions in 1999, 2007 and 2008."

She gave him an eight week jail term suspended for 18 months with a six months supervision order and also ordered him to do 100 hours of unpaid work.

"You are on a knife edge now," she warned him.