A MAN who chain-smoked cannabis for 30 years set up his own growing system in a bedroom -- and told police it was an experiment.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Lawrence Wardman, 48, had used the drug since his days as a student and thought it would be cheaper to grow his own.

Wardman, who hopes to go on to counselling drug users when he has won his own battle against illicit substances, was sent to prison for 12 months by Recorder Anthony Sander -- who said had the case involved a significant commercial element, the sentence would have been measured in years.

Wardman, of Larch Street, Nelson, had earlier admitted possessing cannabis, cultivating the drug, possessing cannabis with intent to supply and possessing heroin.

Robert Crawford, prosecuting, said the defendant was arrested in May, when police stopped a car in which he was a passenger and he was found in possession of a small amount of cannabis and heroin. They went to his home and found a growing system for cannabis. Eighty three plants were seized, but the defendant said 20 of them had been in a darkened room and it would be impossible to produce drugs from them.

A third of the plants would not produce any cannabis but the 43 remaining were capable of producing drugs with a street value of between £260 and £300, the court heard.

When the defendant was interviewed, he accepted he may have sold cannabis to his friends, but said most of the drug was for his personal use.

Wardman had 14 previous offences for drugs offences, including one for possession with intent to supply and had been to jail.

Mark Foley, defending, said Wardman had used cannabis since his college days, effectively chain smoking it for 30 years -- and the experiment had been enthusiastic, if not particularly successful. At the time of the offences, the defendant had been separated from his partner of five years, but while he was remanded in custody, she had been supportive and had visited him.

She had told him she would have him back provided he gave up drugs entirely. The defendant was nearing 50 and felt he could not go on like this.