Cannabis Hemp News

By Daniel Lewis, Regional Reporter March 6, 200 If Keith Bolton has his way, hemp - the great symbol of the hippy North Coast - will be coming to a sewage treatment plant near you very soon. And to your wardrobe, your pantry, your car and your medicine cabinet. Interestingly, the strongest opponents of the Southern Cross University academic's dream are the drug dealers in nearby Nimbin. Man has cultivated hemp for fibre, food and medicine for at least 6000 years and Dr Bolton says that, after a 70-year "blip in history" caused by prohibition, it is time to embrace hemp again to help save the planet. Dr Bolton is director of the University's Centre for Ecotechnol…

March 8, 2004 HOME intruders have led police directly to a hydroponic cannabis operation in Adelaide's northern suburbs. Witnesses saw men jumping over a fence at a Springwood Close, Northgate, property about 9.40 on Saturday night. When Holden Hill police arrived, they discovered two rooms in the rental home contained hydroponic equipment for growing cannabis. Up to 12 plants had been cut at the stems and taken by the intruders. Police still were searching for the occupants of the house. It is understood witnesses who contacted police believed at least one intruder was carrying bolt cutters. Police dismantled the drug-growing operation and seized rem…

March 6, 2004 Despite the drought, there's one crop that's been thriving, with dope growers once more establishing major plantations in rural NSW. Daniel Lewis reports. 'Another day in the Central West, another drug bust," quipped one of the cops outside the one-man police station in Trundle, north-west of Parkes, as dawn broke earlier this week. And he was only half joking. Dope growing is again big in the great outdoors of NSW. In the 1980s it had looked like the end of commercial-scale marijuana plantations out on the western slopes and plains as the industry was shaken by major busts. Police found 18,000 mature plants and 77,000 seedlings on a station near Wan…

March 6, 2004 POLICE have charged 45 people with 179 drug and property offences following a series of raids in southern Queensland. Police from Toowoomba, Ipswich and Dalby executed 50 search warrants on properties throughout Toowoomba, including the suburbs of Milmerran, Pittsworth, Westbrook and Gatton. The raids were part of Operation Oompala (correct) and involved the seizure of a large quantity of cannabis and amphetamines as well as stolen property over a four-day period. Police declined to put a monetary value on the drugs or indicate their weight, saying only that the haul was "large". As a result of the operation, 129 drug charges were laid, including n…

By Rachelle Chapman Saturday, 6 March 2004 A LARGE-SCALE local cannabis operation was brought to an abrupt halt Thursday night after Bathurst police seized plants with an estimated street value of $300,000 at Kelso. Chifley LAC Inspector Chris Davey said a search warrant for a Kelso residential property was issued on Thursday evening after police received tip-offs from members of the community. Bathurst Police seized 138 mature cannabis plants (10 which had grown three metres high), a hydroponic set-up, and three kilograms of leaf believed to be cannabis. Insp. Davey said the majority of the plants were grown outside. He said police also found six cannabis plant…

Police continued their success in the campaign against drugs by recovering illicit substances during an investigation on Monday. The Criminal Investigation Branch, along with uniformed police from the North East Local Service Area and a sniffer dog, went to premises in and around Port Pirie regarding the production, possession and sale of illicit drugs. As a result of these searches, police seized a quantity of amphetamines, marijuana and prescription drugs along with suspected stolen property. Detective Darren Bussenschutt estimated the combined total street value to be $1500. A 34-year-old male of Port Pirie has been arrested and charged in connection with the operatio…

THREE people have been arrested in connection with an Internet operation which offered marijuana by mail, police said overnight. Investigating officer Matt Cornish from Hertfordshire Constabulary said he believed the case was the first of its kind in Britain. The arrests followed an eight-month investigation by local police and the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit into the password-protected website. The 37-year old man and a 33-year-old woman from Wheathampstead, north of London, and a 35-year old man from Brighton in south-east England were arrested last night and were being questioned, police said. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html

POLICE found 138 cannabis plants when they searched a property at Bathurst west of Sydney yesterday. Police also found a hydroponic set up and about three kg of leaf, believed to be cannabis. A 46-year-old man arrested and charged with a range of drug offences is due to appear in Bathurst Local Court on April 5. In a separate operation three men in their early 30s were arrested at Bondi in Sydney's eastern suburbs after police allegedly found 13 cannabis plants and hydroponic equipment. Aged 32, 33 and 35, they will appear in Waverley Local Court on March 23 http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html

Two hundred cannabis plants worth a total of $370,000 were recovered as part of a three-day police operation. Some of the plants, found in bushland south of Ulladulla, were more than two metres high. A 25-year-old Yatte Yattah man was arrested in relation to the drug raids conducted on February 24, 25 and 26 between Bodalla in the south and Wandandian in the north. Another 12 people of interest are under investigation and police said more arrests would follow during the week. The joint venture between Shoalhaven Police and the Far South Coast Police involved 40 police officers and utilised a number of trail bikes, four-wheel drives and a police helicopter from the Police…

Ceduna police have discovered a clandestine drug laboratory at Penong. The sophisticated drug manufacturing apparatus included filtering and distilling devices, chemicals and various other materials used for the manufacture of cannabis oil. A 39-year-old boilermaker from Penong was arrested last Monday and charged with a number of offences including taking part in producing a prohibited substance and possessing a prohibited substance for sale or supply. Both are major indictable offences, with a maximum penalty of up to 25 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $500,000, or both. Due to the seriousness of the discovery, four officers from the Adelaide Drug and Organised C…

Seven men arrested after another major marijuana bust in the region were refused bail at a Dubbo court the weekend. The men, aged from 25 to their mid-50s, were arrested on Friday when police swooped on a property at Balladoran, 50 kilometres north of Dubbo. Between 3000 and 4000 cannabis plants were discovered growing on the property, with an estimated street value of $7 million. The plants ranged in size from 1.5 to 2 metres in height and were described by police as "very healthy". Each plant was individually irrigated and mulched, with black plastic wrapped around the base. The property, 'Heatherbrae', has been under surveillance for some weeks and police believe it is…

A man has been charged with cultivating and supplying cannabis after police seized 21kg of the drug on the NSW south coast. Police said officers had executed a search warrant on a house at Gwinganna Avenue, Kiama, on Friday afternoon. They found cannabis in the garage, along with hydroponic equipment, seven cannabis plants and two ecstasy tablets. As a result of the seizure, a 24-year-old Kiama man was charged with cultivating a prohibited drug and supplying a prohibited drug. He was given conditional bail and was due to appear in Kiama Local Court on March 23 http://news.ninemsn.com.au/National/story_55219.asp