Cannabis nursery

Press, 10 June 1977, Page 17

Cannabis nursery

A young couple blacked;! cur two rooms of their Bel-p fast flat, and had special < ppes feeding carbon dioxide; 1 into the rooms to help grow'i marijuana plants, the Magis-p trate’s Court was told yes- 1 terday. ; 1 Christine Margaret Black,;' aged 19, and Mark Peter! Breach, aged 22, each pleaded 1 (uilty, before Mr K. W.; * Frampton, S.M.. to charges I of growing cannabis between ;’ September 1 and November*' 31, possessing cannabis seeds, I, and possessing cannabis and ; growing the plant on May!, 18 Detective Sergeant D. K. ' White said the police searched the couple’s flat on May 18. “The windows of two rooms had been blacked out,; special lighting had been in-';

;stalled and there was silver jfoil on the walls,” he said. ' “Thirty-seven plants in; 'various stages of develop-; ment were found. There were; 'also 22 sticks of cannabis, a] ■tin with 196 seeds and a| ;paper bag containing stalks,! I weighing 150 grams. j “The defendants said the ; cannabis was grown for *heir I own use. They had seeds to |grow more, and the stalks I were from plants they grew ;at the end of last year.” Counsel (Mr A. K. Grant) ■said the defendants were [“reasonably regular users of 'the drug,” and they had ' grown it solely for their own use. “This offence is pot as serious now, as when the i Narcotics Act was first passed,” said Mr Grant. The Magistrate said he 'accepted that the defendants

■ ; were no longer using can[nabis. He fined each defeni|dant $250 on the charges of 'growing cannabis last year. :; On the other three charges, ; I they were convicted and disi| charged. An Order was made , Ifor the destruction of the 'cannabis. ' RIFLE DISCHARGED A youth was charged with ' discharging a rifle on June 8 : in a manner likely to injure. ’[ Stephen Michael Wood, aged 19, entered no plea to 1 the charge. ‘ He was remanded for a week on bail of $250 and a * surety of a similar amount. ' The charge arose after an incident on Wednesday eveni ing when the police cordoned i off a property near the inter- : section of Hereford Street and Fitzgerald Avenue after : three shots had been fired > from a .22 rifle.