Suspect Says Marijuana Was for Personal Use

A Coventry man arrested after police seized more than 10 pounds of marijuana at his home is saying that what he was doing should not be illegal because he was growing the drugs for his own personal use.

Coventry police officers, along the East Central Narcotics Taskforce and DEA, searched 27 Berry Ave. in Coventry after a lengthy investigation into an illegal marijuana growing operation at the home, police said, and found what they called a “medium-size” indoor marijuana farm in the basement.

The DEA Marijuana ERAD Unit dismantled the growing equipment and police seized marijuana worth an estimated $40,000; marijuana packaging material and smoking paraphernalia; indoor marijuana growing equipment, including growing lights, fans, ventilators and ballasts; 33 marijuana plants and 11 seedlings; two Audis and several televisions, cellphones and computers.

Police arrested two residents, Jason Blakesley, 27, and his 26-year-old girlfriend, Linda Dettore and both were charged with possession of more than four ounces of marijuana, cultivation of marijuana, operating a drug factory, possession of drug paraphernalia

They were also charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, but Blakesley denies that he was selling marijuana.

“I think the laws in this state and the federal laws are confusing and I wish it was all unified so people could understand it,” he said. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} “Bottom line, I didn’t do anything wrong. I would never put anyone’s life in jeopardy and I care very much about this town and this community.”

However, police said the amount they seized goes well beyond personal use.