Cannabis problem for police

Press, 21 January 1982, Page 1

Cannabis problem for police

Two members of the Christchurch drug squad, Detective Dave Norton (left) and Detective Senior-Ser-geant Mike Muddiman, with cannabis plants that were found and destroyed north of Christchurch yesterday. Nearly 8000 cannabis plants have been found between the Waiau River and the Rakaia River this summer. Detective Senior-Sergeant Muddiman, who is the head bf the drug squad, said that widespread cultivation of cannabis was a problem for the Christchurch police at present but that they were “on top of” the trade in “hard” drugs in the city.

He believed that small quantities of heroin, LSD, and hashish were for sale in Christchurch, “but we can effectively say we are on top of the hard-drug trade at the moment.” A small seizing of heroin recently had stopped one source of supply and inquiries were being made into a source of supply of LSD. Pill-taking was a continuing problem and pills were stolen from doctors’ bags and chemists’ shops “on a small scale.” The police did not receive many reports about pill-taking. Last month, Christchurch

City Council workers had found a plot of 60 suspected opium poppies growing in the reserve between Shag Rock and Clifton, Sumner. The poppies had been destroyed under the supervison of the Health Department and inquiries had ended because it was impossible to find the offenders. Detective Senior-Sergeant Muddiman did not know whether the poppies could have produced opium: tests would have had to have been done by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research to have determined this.