Cannabis Hemp News

HYDROPONIC cannabis crops are being grown in Melbourne homes by crime syndicates, then exchanged for heroin in Sydney. Police say criminals are using about five rented suburban houses at a time to grow cannabis worth millions of dollars. The operations uncovered in ongoing investigations were "organised crime at its best", Victoria police drug investigation spokesman Detective Superintendent Tony Biggin said. "Cannabis is not a drug of choice for most of these people, just a very lucrative cash crop," Det-Supt Biggin said. The crops of about 100 plants would sell for $250,000, which was enough to buy three 350-gram blocks of heroin worth $1 million each. "The cann…

"Sniffer dogs take to the streets" Chris Griffith Courier Mail 13jun05 QUEENSLAND police are using sniffer dogs to randomly check people for drugs. The tactic has been criticised as verging on "totalitarian". Police confirmed their anti-drugs operation following an Irish tourist's claim that he was subjected to 15 minutes of embarrassment and humiliation after a sniffer dog check at Brisbane's Toowong train station on Thursday morning. The Irish visitor, who asked not to be named, and his friend David Davore had travelled from the city to Toowong when they were intercepted by several uniformed and plainclothes police at the exit point near the station's ticke…

From: Agence France-Presse ORGANISED crime detectives believe the arrest of three men in Perth has broken a national drug syndicate responsible for shipping thousands of dollars worth of methylamphetamine into Western Australia. As a result of the arrests yesterday, police said around $700,000 worth of assets, including more than $200,000 in cash, would be seized and frozen under WA proceeds of crime laws. Operation Marlee was launched in March, targeting the activities of a suspected national crime network responsible for the drug trafficking, WA Police said. Advertisement: Investigations identified members of the network in WA and Victoria, and the operation clima…

A man who police allege has been part of a drug distribution network appeared in court at Bega yesterday (Tuesday, June 7). The 49-year-old Bega man was arrested after police raided several properties in the town on Monday, June 6 and seized cannabis worth up to $150,000. Members of the Police Drug Squad and local police cordoned off a commercial building in Auckland Street and several vehicles parked outside for several hours and undertook a major search that continued late into Monday afternoon. A house in Angle Street and one in Rawlinson Street, Bega were also searched as part of the overall police search action. They also took amphetamines and a sum of cash fou…

A Supreme Court judge has jailed two Mackay men for 18 months each on separate drug-related charges. Lesley Carter, 38, pleaded guilty to possessing more than four kilograms of cannabis. The court heard Carter sold his Harley Davidson for $20,000, with the drugs making up the balance of the sale. Carter claimed he intended to use only half of the four kilograms for "commercial use". Justice Kerry Cullinane jailed him for 18 months to be suspended after six months. In a separate case, John McLellan, 52, will serve three months in jail for growing marijuana in the courtyard of his inner-city townhouse. Police found McLellan with one kilogram of cannabis in plast…

Trent Bruce Torrens didn't have much luck with his efforts to grow a little cannabis for himself and save on electricity, Darwin Magistrates Court heard yesterday. Last September he set up a hydroponics system in the laundry of his Woodroffe residence and tried to grow several plants, prosecutor Sergeant Gavin Kennedy said. On Christmas Eve, he got hold of a cloned plant, which he began to nurture. Torrens then put a heavy-duty magnet on his electricity meter in an attempt to slow it. While waiting for his plant to mature, he bought a small amount of cannabis to smoke and $80 worth of methylamphetamine at a city hotel. That day, February 15, while he was at wo…

The Cannabis Treatment Service in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta is so successful that it now has the interest of international medical experts. Dr Jon Currie has treated over 400 cannabis-dependant patients at the clinic during a 12-month trial. Withdrawal from cannabis, says Dr Currie, can be "really very difficult — they get angry, irritated, aggressive, so they often just don't stop". One of Dr Currie's patients, Julia Norcott, was dependent on marijuana for more than 20 years, "I'd get up every morning and have to have a few cones straight away to start the day," she admits. A combination of medication and counselling have now cured her addiction. "I can say every…

NT Police yesterday placed a restraining order on a comfortable suburban townhouse under the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act. Two vehicles and $90,000 cash belonging to the owners of 3/4 Winston St, Stuart Park, in Darwin, are also the subject of a restraining order after police allegedly found more than 12kg of cannabis hidden inside last month. William John McGregor, 60, and Maria Laidat-McGregor, 36, are charged with possessing a commercial quantity of cannabis, supplying a traffickable quantity of cannabis and possessing the cash and proceeds of crime. Both were remanded in custody and are due to appear at Darwin Magistrates Court for a hand-up committal on Jul…