Two men from Toowoomba have been given fines after they were caught with less than $1,000 of cannabis each.
The two men, 81 and 40 years old, are local to the White Mountain area of Queensland. The 81-year-old is the stepfather of the 40-year-old. Both men were arrested on several drug offences after police raided their homes on Thursday, May 13th, 2021.
Inside the 81-year-old man’s caravan, police located 13 grams of cannabis, a bong, and a metal pipe. The 13 grams of cannabis is worth roughly $235 on Brisbane’s black market. The 81-year-old was charged with possessing cannabis and drug paraphernalia.
Police also found cannabis inside the 40-year-old man’s caravan. This time, they seized freshly harvested cannabis that was air-drying as well as a crop of cannabis from the ground. The wet cannabis weighed about 15 grams total. Police also charged the 40-year-old with possessing cannabis and drug paraphernalia, as well as one charge of producing cannabis. According to officers, the 40-year-old led police to his cannabis garden during the raid.
In court, police lawyer Amber Acreman explained that the 81-year-old man had used cannabis for the past fifty years to relieve stomach aches. She also explained that the 40-year-old had an ice addiction, though he is now clean. Both men pleaded guilty to their charges.
Magistrate Kay Ryan accepted that both men had only had the cannabis for personal use. She fined the 81-year-old $500 and warned him to get medical cannabis from his Doctor. Magistrate Ryan also gave the 40-year-old a $750 fine.
Although we don’t know exactly how much the wet cannabis is worth, it’s safe to assume these fines greatly exceed the value of the men’s cannabis crops.
ANTG get a licence to grow 250K plants in Toowoomba and these two unfortunates get screwed because they don’t have the right bit of paper or the money to pay for their medicine despite evidencing a clear medical need to the contrary. Telling an 80 year old who’s living in a caravan to spend money that he clearly doesn’t have is about as disingenuous as offering a drowing man a glass of water. This is all the more galling when strict rules around access have been softening through the SAS initiative, but court decisions like remain commonplace. Seemingly, showing any initiative or taking steps to manage your own health and wellbeing is something that is best not encouraged if you don’t have the money. If there was an example of government overreach into the private lives of citizens, this is it.