A YOUNG dad-of-two from Plymouth took his own life after struggling to kick his cannabis habit, an inquest heard.

Zowie Tobin, aged 23, overdosed on prescription drugs and then jumped into a lake last August. His body was found two days later.

His heartbroken family today pleaded with other heavy users of the Class B drug to "get help before it's too late" as they paid tribute to a "happy-go-lucky-boy" who would be sorely missed.

The former Tamarside College student grew up in Honicknowle, Keyham and Kings Tamerton, but left the city for Wiltshire four years ago to care for his ill mother.

He met Samantha Cowdrey, 21, and the couple started a family in Westbury, having two children, two-year-old Liam and nine-month-old Courtney.

Miss Cowdrey told the inquest how Zowie had started smoking cannabis at the age of 14 and would use around £10-worth, or 1.7g, a day to "help him with stress".

But having children inspired him to kick the habit and on August 7 he went to his GP, who prescribed the sedative Diazepam.

"He was quite pleased with himself for trying to come off the cannabis," Miss Cowdrey told the inquest in Bridgwater. "He didn't want to be reliant on something and didn't want it around the kids."

But the day after his visit to the doctor's, Zowie was "not himself", she recalled.

"He just sat in the chair for a minute and then grabbed his tablets," she said. "He told me he was going to kill himself and left."

When he didn't return she and Zowie's father, Keith, went looking for him at one of his favourite spots, nearby Penleigh Lake. They found nothing, but on August 12 a dog walker stumbled across the body.

The inquest heard how alcohol, Diazepam and the anti-depressant Amitriptyline were found in his system – and their packets by the side of the lake. Coroner Ian Singleton ruled that Zowie had taken his own life.

Speaking after the hearing, sister Sherrie Parmenter, from Stoke, issued a heartfelt plea to regular cannabis users.

She told The Herald: "I think people really need to realise that it is an addictive drug.

"People say, 'Oh, it's only cannabis' – but look where my brother has ended up.

"If someone feels they are starting to get addicted then I would say to them, 'Get help now – before it's too late'.

"In a way this is closure for us, but we will always miss and remember him."

Mum Carol added: "I'm still grieving and I'm going to be grieving for a long time. There are still unanswered questions as to why Zowie did what he did."

Miss Cowdrey described Zowie as a "happy-go-lucky boy" who would be sadly missed by her and their young children.