the times | Saturday May 28 2022 13
News
Hundreds of cancer patients and their
families, including a BBC radio pre-
senter, have united to help a cannabis
dealer avoid jail after telling a judge
how he supplied the drug to relieve
their pain.
Andrew Baines, 46, was facing a long
prison sentence after police found a
kilogram of cannabis and more than 30
plants at his home in Lincoln.
Prosecutors charged him with supply
and production of a Class B drug, but
when it became clear he was only sell-
ing cannabis oils to terminal cancer
patients and others with chronic condi-
tions they decided to prosecute only for
the lowest type of offending within this
category: cultivation or production of
up to seven plants. Baines pleaded
guilty.
After the court was deluged with tes-
timony from hundreds of patients and
their families explaining how he had
helped them, the judge gave the lowest
Cancer pleas save cannabis dealer
possible punishment of a six-month
community order with no costs to pay.
One submission came from Becky
Hayes, a presenter on BBC Radio Shef-
field. She wrote to the judge after
Baines helped her father during his
final months with throat cancer.
“Andrew travelled a long way to
come and see me and Dad to talk us
through everything,” she said. “He
never charged for his time or asked for
anything in return. His knowledge is
incredible; he is the most selfless man.”
Russ Williams, whose wife, Belinda,
was diagnosed with incurable liver
cancer and sent home to prepare for
death, also provided testimony. He said:
“I made contact with Andy and our
lives have not been the same since. He
did not hesitate and set about helping
us. We offered to pay him, but he
refused point blank.”
Nearly four years ago the law was
changed to allow access to medicinal
cannabis but only three NHS prescrip-
tions have since been written, meaninglegal access to the drug still sits solely
with costly private clinics. As a result
more than a million people are thought
to be buying cannabis from the black
market to treat their conditions.
Baines became involved in supplying
patients after using cannabis for pain
relief following a traffic accident that
left him in a wheelchair. He says he
makes no money from the operation
and only tries to cover his costs. He was
caught after Post Office staff became
suspicious of a package he had sent.
Hannah Sampson, a solicitor at Sam-
pson Bailey who represented Baines,
said the case opened the way for more
lenient treatment. She said: “It’s a land-
mark case because it’s the first where
you have a judge recognising the differ-
ence between people who are criminal-
ly involved in the supply of drugs for
profit and someone trying to help
people.”
Baines, who lives off disability allow-
ance, said he was hugely relieved about
being spared jail. He told The Times:“After waiting two years the verdict was
a big burden off my shoulders. It’s been
a stressful period. The law here is very
antiquated. A lot of the opiate-based
medication they give people in end-of-
life care is pretty horrendous and
patients are not really with it. But medi-
cal cannabis alleviates pain and
patients still get quality time with their
families.”
Baines said he wanted to thank
everyone who had written to the judge
on his behalf. “If it wasn’t for them, I
think I’d be in a very different situation.
They put themselves at risk by giving
their details and explaining what
they’re doing.”
Carly Barton, the founder of Can-
card, an ID card designed with police
that demonstrates a person is using
cannabis for medicinal reasons, said: “I
salute the CPS and the judge in this case
who made the fair decision not to im-
prison Andrew. He has improved the
lives of thousands of people who were
sent home to die.”Andrew Ellson
Bowel health
warnings on
lavatory rolls
Charlie MoloneyMarks and Spencer will add informa-
tion about the signs of bowel cancer on
its toilet roll packaging in a move
inspired by Dame Deborah James.
The supermarket will introduce the
change from September and make a
£50,000 donation to Bowel Cancer UK,
a charity James, who has incurable
bowel cancer, represents as a patron.
Cara Hoofe, a Marks and Spencer
employee, came up with the idea and
submitted it directly to Stuart Machin,
the chief executive.
Hoofe, who had stage 4 bowel cancer
diagnosed in 2016 at the age of 32, said:
“Deborah is a huge inspiration to me
and so many other young people
diagnosed with bowel cancer. I feel
fortunate my journey since diagnosis
has taken a different path but I want to
give a voice to all those who can no
longer use theirs to raise awareness.”
She added: “Early detection is so
important and my main message to
people is don’t feel embarrassed, get
things checked out and speak to your
doctor.”
James has released a clothing line to
support and raise funds for Cancer
Research UK. She said the partnership
with the clothing brand In The Style
had “taken me away from cancer”
during the past months. All profits of
the Dame Deborah James collection
will go to charity.
“This partnership has honestly kept
me going and taken me away from
cancer, and I’m so honoured to finally
be able to share what we’ve been work-
ing so hard on with all of you,” she said
on Twitter.
James, 40, said this month she was
being given hospice-at-home care after
her cancer was diagnosed six years ago.
She hosts the You, Me and the Big C
podcast and was invested as a dame by
the Duke of Cambridge at her home on
May 13.
James, a mother of two, visited the
Chelsea Flower Show on Tuesday to
see a rose named in her honour.
Prince William has visited the Royal
Marsden Hospital where James was
treated. He said: “So many people are
affected by cancer. I love Deborah, she’s
fantastic. Her legacy is massive.”C
ouncils and
community
groups are
planting edible
forests for use by
the public as the cost-of-
living crisis bites (Lucy
Bannerman and Ali
Hussain write).
Local authorities in
London, including Hackney
and Newham, have planted
fruit trees in parks that
previously had only mown
grass and ornamental trees.
Community groups in
Sheffield, Birmingham and
Somerset are also
transforming neglected
parcels of land into semi-
wild “food forests” to help
people cut grocery bills.
The Soil Association
estimates there are about
800 community food-
growing groups.
At the root of the
movement, is the idea of a
“food forest” as nature’s
food bank — a self-
sustaining, low
maintenance way of
providing a variety of
free produce throughout
the year.
The sites consist of
seven “layers”, beginning
with a canopy of trees
providing fruit and nuts,
a mid layer of fruit trees
and a shrub layer of
berries and currants.
Beneath those, there is a
herbaceous layer
providing flowers, herbs
and vegetables; ground
cover of edible plants
such as strawberries; a
“rhizosphere” of root crops
and finally a vertical layer
of vines, such as grapes.
Mushroom logs provide
fungi to complete the cycle.
They are designed to
require less time and
cultivation than traditional
allotments, providing agreater variety of
produce than orchards
throughout the year, and —
crucially — creating more
habitat for wildlife.
Campaigners are urging
local authorities to free
more public space for this
kind of planting, which they
believe offers a win-win ontwo fronts: food insecurity
and biodiversity loss.
This year the Trussell
Trust, the largest food bank
provider, has distributed
2.1 million parcels — about
twice as many as in 2014-15.
The UK has lost almost
half its wildlife and plant
species as a result of humanand land development since
the Industrial Revolution.
Centuries of farming,
building and industry have
left the UK one of the most
nature-depleted countries
in Europe.
Food forests might not
hold every solution to these
problems, but they are avery good place to start,
says Rachel Baker, 52, a
volunteer with the Tree
Musketeers in east London,
which runs an edible forest
tucked between a main
road and the football
pitches on Hackney
Marshes. “It’s not just a
little hobby. This is part of a
growing movement [of
people who are] more
conscious and politically
aware of land use. The fact
we’re even talking about
food insecurity shows
something has gone badly
wrong with how land is
managed. We need more
land freed up for
community groups. Food
insecurity is an
unnecessary phenomenon.”
The fashion for garden
foresting is a welcome trend,
leading article, page 33Cut grocery
bill with a
fruit forest
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES GLOSSOP; LUCY YOUNG FOR THE TIMESgreatervarietyof t fCommunity groups in Hackney, east London, above and below left, and Sheffield, below, are working on nature’s “food banks”BBC radio
presenter Becky
Hayes told how
Andrew Baines,
above, had
helped her father