Cannabis doctor (Katelaris) escapes prison

[Brash]

Cannabis doctor escapes prison

 

August 24, 2006 - 4:53PM

 

A Sydney doctor who grew 49,519 cannabis plants will not serve a custodial sentence, a Newcastle court has ruled.

 

Dr Andrew John Katelaris was convicted on March 8 this year of one count of cultivating not less than a large commercial quantity of cannabis.

 

He grew the plants on his property at Salisbury, near Dungog in the NSW Hunter Valley.

 

The NSW District Court in Newcastle was told tests showed the crop had a low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, making it of no value as a drug.

 

During sentencing submissions today, the court was told Dr Katelaris' licence as a medical practitioner in NSW had been revoked for three years.

 

The NSW Medical Tribunal banned Dr Katelaris over the self-administration of cannabis and for supplying it to some patients.

 

Judge Ralph Coolahan will hand down a sentence on September 12, but he told the court Dr Katelaris would not be imprisoned.

 

AAP

 

Photo Caption: Dr. Andrew Katelaris ... to be sentenced later.

Photo: David Wicks

 

Author: no byline

Date: 24 August 2006

Source: Sydney Moring Herald - Article Link

Copyright: © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald

[Brash]

I have been meeting with Andrew in the lead up to this court case - to help him out I 'lent' him my URL medicalcannabis.info so more info on this topic can be found there. We have registered cannabishemp.info for him but it is not up yet. Eventually that will be his industrial hemp website but we plan to maintain a profile page for him at the medipot site.

[Budman2012]

Hey Brash , How are you? ..

 

Sounds a little sus to me man ... nearly 50,000 plants .. that is absolutely ridiculous ... Todd Mc(forget) wasn't growin anywhere near that was he? and he's away I think ...

 

Very Strange indeed ... If you know any more on this , Plz let us know.

 

Cheerz.

 

Budman

 

(EDIT) - Sorry , I did read that a little wrong , but I'm not gonna bother changing my post , I'm too stoned.

Bye Now.

Edited August 24, 2006 by Budman2012

[Jess Stone]

Didn't Dr.K say at this years Mardi Grass that it was Medical Cannabis? Or am I mistaken?

3 cheers anyone getting off (without being a LOW DOG narc!)

True fact : If it has any THC which it would,no matter how "low" the THC content as 50,000 .05 % THC hemp would make MUCHO amounts of bubble hash or better still KiloLitres of concentrated and Q hash oil!

[Brash]

Andrew tells me the generally accepted international level of THC to distinguish between a fibre crop and drug one is 0.3%. The measured THC of his hemp crop was 0.09%, very low indeed, given the quantity of plant matter (in the tonnes) involved you would need an industrial extraction process, you wouldn't be able to do this in your kitchen

During sentencing submissions today, the court was told Dr Katelaris' licence as a medical practitioner in NSW had been revoked for three years.

 

The NSW Medical Tribunal banned Dr Katelaris over the self-administration of cannabis and for supplying it to some patients.

I was the patient who he gave the cannabis to in a ABC TV interview which resulted in his deregistation. It was a variety(white rhino) that was tested at a massive 21%. It was a truly spectacular smoke, fantastic at both pain relief and nausea suppression . Apparently standard hyrdo is generally under 10% and often below 5%.

 

photo caption: newspaper photos from original bust

[SukonmiSkunk]

this is good news.. not great.. he shouldnt have been charged any way.. but I am glad he wont see jail time...

 

this is very good news for him.. I hope he gets his medi liscence back too...

[WantDaChronic]

i remember seeing that guy on today tonight, well it was a recording that ozstoner uploaded on here, but from what i saw he was merely growing a field of hemp to get the fibre and the only reason he got busted was because his license to grow the hemp was expired at the most he should get a fine for not having a current hemp growing license and then he should sue the police for destroying his crop.

[zulunovo]

Fantastic news. I remember well the newscasts when he was busted.

 

I think the community as a whole should applaud guys like him. A career person who is putting his balls on the line publically in the interests of harnessing the benefits of this amazing plant.

 

If there were a few more like him then the tide would really turn. The laws are ultimately made important or irrelevant by the attitudes and views of society.

 

Also if he had a license to grow then it's understandable he had such a large crop of low THC hemp. The 21% 'white rhino' on the other hand...... like wow.