A judge told a court there there is a "significant issue" with people setting up cannabis farms on Teesside.
Judge Jonathan Carroll made the remarks while sentencing Alan Williams for a grow which was discovered inside his home.
Teesside Crown Court heard how police were called to the 49-year-old's address on Bolckow Road in the Grangetown area of the town on April 8 this year.
Officers found 19 cannabis plants, worth between £5,320 and £15,960, as well as heavy duty plastic sheets, lamps and ventilator extractors.
Dr Chris Wood, prosecuting, told the court: "He accepted he has been the sole occupant of the property for four years.
"The plants were not his, he had been growing them for an unknown male to pay off a debt."
Dr Wood told the court how Williams said he did not use the drug himself and would not profit from the grow.
Williams of Bolckow Road, Grangetown, admitted producing a controlled class B drug.
Judge Carroll told the court in Middlesbrough that there was a "genuine issue" in the region at the moment with cannabis farms.
He said: "There comes a point where people have to start serving custodial sentences for it."
The judge told Williams that he had a "bad record" but that drugs are not a significant feature on it.
He said: "There is clearly, at the moment, in this region a significant issue with people starting up substantial commercial, cannabis grows.
"I am quite certain you are not at the top of the tree.
"It's rare that the people who are the chief organisers are caught. People like you are the fall guys.
"If there was a single aggravating feature in your case I would send you to immediate custody but there are none in your case I can identify at all."
Judge Carroll sentenced Williams to eight months in prison suspended for 12 months.
He also ordered him abide by a electronically monitored curfew and complete 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
