cannabisnews.com: The Man Who Grew Cannabis to Feed his Horses!





The Man Who Grew Cannabis to Feed his Horses!
Posted by FoM on February 26, 1999 at 15:58:57 PT

JOHN Robert Lavery had tried just about every orthodox treatment to relieve the pain suffered by his beloved arthritic 28-year-old horse - to no avail. 
So when a "perfect stranger" he claims he met in a Birdwood pub in June, 1997, offered him a "herb" that would ease the ailment, the prison officer said he was all ears. The mystery man gave Lavery an envelope containing 35 seeds he said were called "horsewort", and told him that when they matured he should mix it with his horse's feed. But what the man, who Lavery had never seen before or since, did not tell him was that the horsewort was in fact cannabis. Lavery claims he planted the seeds, planning to feed the plants to his arthritic 28-year-old horse and another 18-year-old horse, which has cancer. But on April 1 last year, police raided Lavery's Mt Pleasant property, discovering 21 mature marijuana plants and another 2kg of cannabis inside his home. Lavery pleaded guilty to producing cannabis but not guilty to possessing cannabis for sale, saying the drug was only for the therapeutic use of his horses. But yesterday a District Court jury took less than three hours to decide they did not believe Lavery's story. A dejected Lavery, who quit his job at Mobilong Prison the day of his arrest, bowed and shook his head after the verdict. During the trial, he said he had gone to the pub to "have a couple of shandies" when he began talking to the man. Lavery said the man appeared "genuine and knowledgable" during their brief encounter. "He said it was a herb used widely in the horse industry for strains and ligament damage. He said I should notice a good improvement (in the horses)," Lavery said. He claims he only became aware of what he had planted when his wife, also a correctional services officer, saw a drug raid on television and told her husband the plants looked "awfully like" the horsewort growing in the vegie patch. But Lavery refused to rip up the crop. When the police arrived Lavery, who never fed his horses the horsewort, showed them where all the drugs were and gave them his explanation. "I do think it's strange, quite frankly, but that's what happened," he later said. Lavery was remanded on bail for sentencing submissions next month. 
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Comment #1 posted by Ron Mullins on January 27, 2000 at 19:10:19 PT:
Ron Mullins, Candidate for United States Senate 
I Ron Mullins, Candidate for United States Senate - Democrat from Washington State have addressed issued that other candidates are afraid to confront. I have be going around Washington State Campaigning with platform issues such as: stopping the drug war, tax and regulate marijuana for adult comsuption and more. Check out our web-site at: www.mullinsforsenate.org  We need 1,000,000 tokers and smokers to donate $10.00 each to our campaign to fight the drug war. Click on our web-site for credit card donations. The revolution is in the vote.
Ron Mullins for United States Senate - Democrat
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