FED up with the high price of drugs, two North-East men decided to go into business for themselves.

But their plan ended yesterday when the pair were jailed for growing cannabis at three sites in a County Durham village.

The motivation behind the drug cultivation was to avoid the high price that dealers were demanding from drug-users, said Peter Sabiston, prosecuting.

County Durham police received a tip-off that cannabis was being grown in a farmhouse, and then discovered two other drug farms at terraced houses a few doors apart in the village.

They seized a total of 120 cannabis plants, which could have been worth more than £80,000 if they all produced the drug.

The farmhouse cannabis was growing in a bedroom blocked off by a heavy dresser.

Police also seized ultra-violet lamps and watering systems.

Unemployed James Robb, 33, admitted two charges of cultivating cannabis last October at the houses in Raby Terrace, Chilton, where he lived in one of them.

Carl Mackinlay, 36, admitted cultivating cannabis at West Chilton Farm, which had been his home.

They both said it was for personal use.

Robb, now of Sunnydale, Shildon, County Durham, told police he smoked a lot of cannabis.

Mr Sabiston told Teesside Crown Court: "He said it was the first time he had tried growing it, and that it consumed quite a large amount of electricity.

"I do not think that the Crown can accept that the plants were being grown for personal use only because it seems to be a substantial amount of cannabis there."

David Lamb, in mitigation, said Robb's use of cannabis rose because of personal problems, but he said the plants at one house were not his and he was only watering them.

The court heard that Mackinlay's former wife was serving a five-year jail sentence for possession of heroin with intent to supply and that their children were being looked after by his sister.

Richard Bennett, in mitigation for Mackinlay, said his client did not wish to pay the inflated price to a cannabis-dealer and decided to grown his own.

The judge, Recorder Keith Miller, said: "I sentence you both on the basis that these drugs were for personal use, although I have to say that there were a very large number of plants indeed.

"I have to mark society's disapproval with regard to these offences, and I see no reason to distinguish between the two of you."

They were jailed for nine months each.