Maurice Didham (72) contacted the Otago Daily Times to say it was unfair the potential value of cannabis plants found growing in his rented home last year would be considered at his sentencing next month, rather than the actual value of the product he says he would have harvested from his bathroom operation.
Last August, police found about 600g of cannabis and 200 month-old seedlings at his South Dunedin home.
Didham said he pleaded guilty to the charges because he thought he would save the system a "palaver" and perhaps be shown some leniency for an early plea.
He expected, at worst, a home detention sentence for the amount of drugs in his possession.
However, the court heard the number of plants, the value and potential value of the cannabis - almost $250,000 - amounted to serious drug offending and even with the likely discounts for Didham's otherwise good character, the reasons behind the offending and the early guilty plea, it still warranted a sentence of two and a-half years' jail.
The officer in charge of police prosecutions at Dunedin, Senior Sergeant Amelia Steel, said generally if police discovered a crop in various stages, it indicated an ongoing operation, so police had to look at the potential value of a young crop.
An ongoing operation increased the seriousness of the offending, and that would be part of police submissions at sentencing.
In making their submissions to the court, police also took into account the commercial potential of any crop, as well as a person's history, she said.
Yesterday, Didham argued the seedlings in a bathroom would have produced only about 600g, of which he would have sold about three-quarters for about $4000 and smoked the rest.
In court, his lawyer said Didham accepted there was a commercial aspect to the offending, but the valuations in the police summary were a mystery to his client, who had not been living a lavish lifestyle.
He had been growing the cannabis to sell to meet his needs and debts.
The debts accumulated after the failure of his lawn-mowing business because of his poor health.
He could not manage on the about $300-a-week pension, his only source of income, and was unable to find any additional income from a legitimate source.
He had always accepted what he did was wrong.
Didham admitted to being an "on and off" grower and smoker of cannabis for much of his life and a "... long-term criminal, there's no doubt about that", and said he smoked cannabis because it settled him.
He accepted he was likely to go to jail, but "dumping 50 pound [the potential crop police said the seedlings could yield] on me, that's crazy". He would be telling everyone to never "ever" plead guilty.
"I'm going to start a whole campaign. I intend to fight this forever."
Didham will be sentenced in the High Court at Dunedin on June 8.
