A DRUG user caught with cannabis worth more than £3,000 has avoided an immediate jail term after telling a court he swapped his supplies with friends.

Police raided Paul Hadfield's home on December 3 last year, seizing £2970 and 339g of cannabis, worth £3,398, stashed in kitchen cupboards, Duncan Wilcock, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court.

When interviewed by police, Hadfield, aged 39, of Arnold Street, Halliwell, admitted he had been helping an unnamed person grow the drug for the previous 18 months.

His mobile phone was seized and, while police found a small number of texts from people requesting drugs, Hadfield had not replied.

Hadfield had served a 42 month jail sentence 16 years ago for supplying class A drugs, but Nicholas Ross, defending, said he has largely stayed out of trouble since.

He added that Hadfield did not sell his cannabis, but swapped it within a group of friends, in exchange for different strains of the plant.

"This was an entirely social use of cannabis," said Mr Ross.

He stressed that Hadfield, is remorseful and now abstains from using drugs.

The father-of-one pleaded guilty to possessing drugs with intent to supply.

Judge Elliot Knopf warned Hadfield, who is training to be a lorry driver, that he would not be dealt with so leniently if he came before the court again for similar crimes.

Hadfield was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work.