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  1. #1
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    Religious Sacrifice in the UK

    A British couple have been cleared of dealing cannabis after claiming that they planned to burn their crop in sacrifice to the Hindu god Shiva. Prosecutors alleged that they made some $450,000 over six years by dealing drugs.

    The woman, Katarzyna Dryden-Chouen, 46, said that she intended to make the sacrifice because the world was about to end. She admitted to growing the cannabis, and told Gloucester Crown Court that the “religious sacrifice” was to be offered to Shiva before December 21, 2012 – when she believed the world would end.


    The Mayan calendar reached the end of its 5,126-year-long cycle on December 21, and Dryden-Chouen said that she intended to create a Homa (burning pit) for a ceremony.


    The plants found in her and her husband Clive’s home – 15 established plants and 41 juvenile ones – had the potential to yield around 2.9 pounds of the drug – an amount that would fetch about $9,600, according to the prosecution. Police also alleged that nearly £13,000 ($21,000) in cash was found in their home in Littledean, near the Welsh border.


    “Just about every room in the house had cannabis in it,” when police ransacked the premises, according to prosecutor Paul Grumbar. The money was found near a “shrine.”


    Clive Dryden-Chouen, 60, claimed that the £277,000 ($443,000) which passed through their hands over the last six years came from his business based on converting cars to run on liquid petroleum gas. He said that he did not have a bank account and was paid in cash.


    Evidence given in the trial was built on diary extracts from the wife, which documented details of her cannabis growing and selling. However, she declared in front of a jury that the passages were a “fiction” as she spent extended periods of time medicating without eating.


    Katarzyna Dryden-Chouen also claimed to be in possession of a pet mouse who could talk, and the couple denied knowing that cannabis possession was illegal. While she and her husband admitted to personal use of cannabis, both were cleared of intending to supply the drug after a three-week trial.


    At the beginning of the case, the Dryden-Chouens pleaded guilty to cultivating the cannabis crop, but denied charges of intent to supply and of money laundering. Police conducted the raid on their home in August 2012.


    Judge Alastair McGrigor warned the couple that they may still face jail on the charge of cultivating the plants. “This matter is not entirely over,” he said in court, according to the Daily Mail. “You are going to be sentenced in relation to the material that was found in the house. All options are still open to the court.”


    This article taken from here:

    ?Cannabis for Shiva:? UK couple cleared of $450,000 drug dealing ? RT News

    A pet mouse that talks. You see jury duty can be fun sometimes.
    I see fish. They are everywhere. They don't know they are fish.

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Funny, the talking mouse was what really stood out for me, too.

    There are some wacky people in this world.

  3. #3
    I am in Jail
    leemo's Avatar
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    Looks like juries are getting even ficklier.

  4. #4
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    If i was a mouse breathing in all the dope fumes, I would probably babble on and on too!!

  5. #5
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    After reading this I just wondered whether the woman was a Jefferson Airplane fan:

    "
    One pill makes you larger
    And one pill makes you small
    And the ones that mother gives you
    Don't do anything at all
    Go ask Alice
    When she's ten feet tall

    And if you go chasing rabbits
    And you know you're going to fall
    Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
    Has given you the call to
    Call Alice
    When she was just small

    When the men on the chessboard
    Get up and tell you where to go
    And you've just had some kind of mushroom
    And your mind is moving low
    Go ask Alice
    I think she'll know

    When logic and proportion
    Have fallen sloppy dead
    And the White Knight is talking backwards
    And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
    Remember what the dormouse said;
    Feed your head
    Feed your head"

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Their lawyer is going to get a lot of business!

  7. #7
    Tax Consultant
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    ^
    The mouse is getting a slot on News at Ten.

  8. #8
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    Mr Lick's Avatar
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    I'd probably have suspected them of supplying the jury members given the verdict

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thormaturge
    One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small And the ones that mother gives you Don't do anything at all Go ask Alice When she's ten feet tall And if you go chasing rabbits And you know you're going to fall Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar Has given you the call to Call Alice When she was just small When the men on the chessboard Get up and tell you where to go And you've just had some kind of mushroom And your mind is moving low Go ask Alice I think she'll know When logic and proportion Have fallen sloppy dead And the White Knight is talking backwards And the Red Queen's "off with her head!" Remember what the dormouse said; Feed your head Feed your head"
    Ah, Grace - wonderful .

  10. #10
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    Guilty as sin...

  11. #11
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    Right, I'm off to do a burno for the almighty shiva- but i thought the only decent place to grow weed in that joint was the Scilly's?

  12. #12
    Tax Consultant
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    I think this is a case of jurors considering there are far worse crimes for the police to be spending time on so best encourage them to do so by refusing to convict a couple of peaceable tree-hugging whackos.

  13. #13
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    didn't work when the rastafarians said it wos for religious purposes.

    nice try as religion usually gets the sympathy vote but ......

    maybe 4 or 5 years ly-down.

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