Cancer patient gets probation for pot

CINCINNATI (AP) -- A cancer patient who said he smoked marijuana to stimulate his appetite while undergoing chemotherapy was sentenced to three years' probation.
Carter Singleton, 65, of suburban Mount Healthy, could have been sent to prison for five years. He pleaded guilty last month to a charge that he grew marijuana.
"I find there to be substantial mitigating grounds," Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge John Andrew West said after sentencing Singleton on Thursday. "The circumstances are unlikely to reoccur, and he shows genuine remorse."
Singleton said he weighed 230 pounds before beginning chemotherapy, then lost 80 pounds. A friend suggested he try smoking marijuana to help improve his appetite, and Singleton said it worked.
He grew the drug in his basement until a neighbor thought a flickering light was a fire and called firefighters, who found the marijuana.
Singleton's cancer is now in remission, and he told the judge he won't do anything illegal again.
"You don't have to worry about me, I'll do what the probation officer says I have to do," he told the judge.
Nine states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes with a prescription, but it's illegal to grow or use it in Ohio.