Jeffrey Allan Claxton faces Toowoomba Supreme Court for trafficking cannabis

A 34-year-old Toowoomba man ran a ‘cannabis shop’ out of his Toowoomba home, but the operation ran out of puff following a police raid that netted a huge haul of drugs.

A Toowoomba man who ran his own “cannabis shop” with designated opening hours for drug customers has been released from jail after eight months in custody.

Jeffrey Allan Claxton ran a “cannabis shop” from his Toowoomba home and had such rules as opening hours, Crown prosecutor Emily Coley told the city’s Supreme Court on Thursday.

On July 14, 2022, police executed a search warrant at the 34-year-old’s home where they found 1.993kg of cannabis, 100 LSD tablets, 12 shotgun cartridges, 11 fireworks tubes, pipes for smoking cannabis and grinders for chopping up leaf, she said.

Police analysed Claxton’s mobile phone which had drug messages showing he had been trafficking cannabis with 57 supplies to 19 customers over a two-week period, she said.

The LSD was found inside a safe along with $3530 cash suspected as drug proceeds, Ms Coley said.

There was no evidence the LSD was to be supplied, she said.

Police returned to the home to conduct a search on September 14, 2022, this time uncovering 539g of cannabis, $5080 cash, pipes, glass bongs and again his mobile phones were seized.

Claxton told police that a lot of people had “hit him up” for cannabis and he had supplied some of it for no charge, the court was told.

Claxton pleaded guilty to trafficking cannabis, possessing a dangerous drug in LSD, possessing cannabis in excess of 500g and to possessing explosives, fireworks and drug utensils.

Barrister Scott Lynch, for Claxton, told the court the time in custody had been “the stick in the spokes” for his client which stopped him from using cannabis and gave him clarity to the point the 34-year-old believed he would not return to cannabis use.

His client suffered anxiety and used cannabis for pain but he intended seeing his doctor for more legal remedies, he said.

Justice Peter Callaghan

Justice Peter Callaghan warned Claxton of the perils of someone with mental health issues using drugs such as cannabis and LSD.

“If you’ve ever read anything that suggests cannabis is harmless, throw it out the window, it’s out of date,” he said.

“It has significant implications for mental health which is something you should be really concerned about.”

Declaring the 239 days of pre-sentence custody as time already served under the sentence, Justice Callaghan sentenced Claxton to two and a half years in jail but ordered he be released on parole immediately.

Originally published as Jeffrey Allan Claxton faces Toowoomba Supreme Court for trafficking cannabis