Home-grown ‘pot’ increase feared

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32459, 20 November 1970, Page 1

Home-grown ‘pot’ increase feared

An increase in locally-grown marijuana is feared by the Christchurch Drug Squad after 94 cannabis plants and about 100 seedlings were discovered in the Lewis Pass on Wednesday. The plants, raised in cultivated plots in an area of bush, form the biggest “cannabis garden” found in the Christchurch police district, and the fourth found this year. Earlier this year the drug squad seized 50 plants from a house in one raid, and nine plants in two other raids. Detective Senior Sergeant P. J. Donovan, supervisor of the drug squad, said that the squad was alerted to the Lewis Pass garden when two hunters brought one of the plants into the Christchurch Criminal Investigation Branch for identification. It had been found growing in a small plot in the bush. A wider police search uncovered plants growing in plots along stream banks and scattered throughout the

bush. Each plot contained only five or six plants. The seedlings were found growing in five small plots. The plants had grown to only 18in, and were not ready to use for smoking. Mr Donovan said that marijuana, which sometimes grew to 6ft, had to be more mature for cigarettes. “We are concerned at the possibility of more people growing cannabis,” he said. “It can be cultivated anywhere and there is every indication of an increasing market for locally-grown cannabis. The find in the Lewis Pass is evidence of this.

“One of the problems is that it can grow unnoticed in gardens, empty sections, and in the bush. Members of the public should be made more aware of the plant so they can identify it and report to us any they have seen,” said Mr Donovan.

Mostly, the cannabis smoked in Christchurch is imported and so its availability is restricted.

Cannabis may be identified by its distinctive seven-leaf form. The leaves are in groups of seven sprouting from a narrow main stem, and have serrated edges. Mr Donovan requested that anyone seeing the plant report it.