problem after Police showed up for a tour.

Officers raided the Hamilton Parish home he shared with his parents and found 23 cannabis plants in the back yard, Magistrates Court heard yesterday.

And in his bedroom there was a fresh harvest of the drug, drying under a heat lamp.

Smith, 26, told Police carrying out the raid that he was a cannabis user and a keen gardener.

Also in his room was a book on "cooking with cannabis'' and another on "cannabis alchemy'', along with cannabis seeds, pesticides and gardening materials.

In total, Police found more than 70 grammes of the drug.

Smith, of Wyndham Hill, pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis, possessing the drug, having cigarette papers and having gardening equipment for use in drug preparation.

He denied handling cannabis with intent to supply and possession with intent to supply, and was acquitted on those charges.

Prosecutor Sgt. Peter Giles said Smith had no previous convictions.

But he reminded Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis that the maximum penalty for cannabis cultivation was $10,000 or five years.

He added: "We're talking a lot of material here. Cultivation of cannabis is something that cannot be entertained in this country.'' Smith's lawyer, Mr. Delroy Duncan, said people who grew cannabis for their own use were less of a danger to the community than people who fed suppliers by buying the drug on the street.

Smith was not known as a mass cultivator, he said, and had a very negative view of suppliers. Up to the offence, in October 1990, he had been of good character.

A large quantity of the drug had been found because he had been raided at harvest time.

He said Smith was a specialist welder, known as the best man on the Island for welding the joints of oil and gas pipes.

He was not a dependent user, and had been drug-free for a year.

Mr. Duncan added that the gardening equipment had also been used for ordinary plants. As for the pesticides, he had been told that "as in under crops, pesticides tend to ruin the quality of the product.'' Fining Smith a total of $3,400, Mr. Francis said he accepted he had grown the drug for his own use.