Keeley Jade Holland: Gold Coast nurse sentenced for meth, cannabis, GHB trafficking
An enrolled nurse who trafficked methamphetamine, GHB, and cannabis says she is a different person from the one who consumed a gram of ice per day. Read how she turned it around.
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An enrolled Gold Coast nurse who trafficked drugs for eight months says she turned her life around since a near-death gamma-hydroxybutyrate overdose.
Keeley Jade Holland, 27, appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court on February 18, where she pleaded guilty to trafficking in dangerous drugs and possessing a mobile phone connected to trafficking, according to a recently published judgment by Justice Michael Copley.
Holland’s offending came to light when, on September 27, 2022, she was arrested at Surfers Paradise in relation to another matter where no charges were ultimately laid.
Police examined Holland’s mobile phone which indicated she had been trafficking in methamphetamine, cannabis, and GHB since January 19 of that year.
Analysis of her messages indicated she had supplied meth 16 times, offered to supply it five times, and did acts preparatory to a supply on 13 occasions, with fewer supplies of cannabis and GHB throughout the offending period.
Holland turned over at least $10,000 from her trafficking operation, but Justice Copley said the true extent of the operation was unknown due to Holland’s lack of co-operation with investigators.
Holland’s defence counsel submitted she trafficked solely to support her own addiction, which saw her consume up to a gram of the drug daily, plus smaller quantities of GHB.
According to Holland’s defence counsel, her drug consumption ramped up in 2019 and, combined with an eating disorder, resulted in her being hospitalised for organ failure around mid-2022, during which she was working as an enrolled nurse, which she did until early 2023.
She ceased drug use for a time post her September 2022 arrest, but resumed about six months later, ultimately resulting in her overdosing on GHB, an ultra-potent drug, on September 24 last year.
The court was told the near-death experience was the necessary circuit-breaker: Holland, a mother to be, entered residential rehab, receives ongoing treatment as an outpatient, and 19 clear drug screens dating back to October 2024 were able to be tendered to the court.
Justice Copley said society’s interests would best be served by allowing her to continue rehabilitation in the community, having an eye also to the future health and wellbeing of her baby.
He sentenced Holland to four years’ jail, wholly suspended for an operational period of four years, and placed her on three years’ probation.
According to health worker regulator AHPRA, Holland’s registration as a non-practising EN remains current.
In a statement to this masthead, Holland said: “I’ve since turned my life around after this wake up call. I went to a residential rehabilitation centre for 3 months and now am expecting my first child.”
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Originally published as Keeley Jade Holland: Gold Coast nurse sentenced for meth, cannabis, GHB trafficking
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