A Kamloops judge sentenced James Barnes to nine months in prison for charges of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking. (File photo)

Tim Petruk – Kamloops This Week

Marijuana will be legal in Canada in less than seven weeks, but that did not stop a Kamloops judge on Monday from sentencing a man to nine months in prison stemming from a 500-plant grow-op busted by police near Salmon Arm.

James Barnes pleaded guilty to charges of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking. He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated possession charge stemming from an incident earlier this year in which he was busted with a small amount of crystal meth.

Related: Drugs, stolen property worth more than $700,000 seized

Court heard police busted the 49-year-old’s grow-op on Aug. 29, 2015, in Tappen, 10 minutes north of Salmon Arm. In addition to the 500 plants, investigators seized six pounds of magic mushrooms.

In addition to the jail time, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley ordered Barnes to submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database and barred him from possessing firearms for a decade.

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