A HILL farmer who grew cannabis in an outbuilding has been warned that he faces a prison sentence if he continues to be involved in drugs.

Sheriff James Smith told Norman McQueen, 33, he was concerned that a respectable man of his age who was running a farm should be involved in drugs.

McQueen, of Upper Barr Farm, Corsock, near Castle Douglas, was fined #600 at Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court after he admitted growing the controlled drug on the farm in March last year.

An agent told the court that conventional medical treatment for arthritis had failed and McQueen had turned to cannabis after it was suggested that it might help. Police were told that McQueen might be cultivating cannabis and when they went to search the farm building they found 13 pots and a tray containing plants. When McQueen was questioned about the drugs he told police he had been smoking some herbal cannabis and planted the seeds which were left.