Group of seven cannabis users unite as drug charges clog courts
A group of seven therapeutic cannabis users, who are all facing court this month, has slammed the state’s illicit drug laws, saying they are unnecessarily clogging up the state’s court system.
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A group of seven therapeutic cannabis users, who are all facing court this month, has slammed the state’s illicit drug laws, saying they are clogging up the state’s court system.
The group was speaking out yesterday after a Mt Cotton man was found guilty of having implements used to make cannabis oils.
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Frank Brady 51, was fined $1500 and had a conviction recorded in Cleveland Magistrates Court.
He said he used the drug therapeutically after he broke his neck in 2008.
The outcome was the end of a long and bitter struggle to defend his right to make the tinctures which he needs to dull his pain.
It was his sixth time in front of a court to face cannabis charges but the first time he has ever been convicted of a cannabis crime.
His latest charges were laid after a police raid in May.
Mr Brady is one of seven in the group in southeast Queensland facing charges for minor amounts of cannabis possession, use and or having utensils.
The group, who are all over 50, has united as members of the Medicinal Cannabis Users Association headed by Gold Coast woman Deb Lynch, who is also being pursued through the courts for using cannabis as a form of pain relief.
The group said a Queensland Library Parliamentary Report showed that 91.2 per cent of national cannabis arrests were end consumers, not drug makers or traffickers.
The Parliamentary Illicit Drug Data Report for 2016/17, showed Queensland accounted for a third of the national arrests, or 30.7 per cent, with illicit drug offences topping the list in the state in 2017–18.
More than one in four offenders prosecuted by police had a principal offence of illicit drug use.
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Ms Lynch, 60, is due to return to Beenleigh Magistrates Court this month after a protracted case spanning more than three years.
Popular cannabis educator, herbalist and retired former country GP Deborah Waldron, 59, had her case adjourned this week until early August as did a 59-year-old man from Gladstone, charged for using cannabis to relieve his chronic arthritis pain and tremor.
This month will be the second time in two years that retired nurse, 66-year-old Maggie O’Rourke from Gympie, has faced court on cannabis charges.
Last time, there was no penalty and no conviction recorded for Ms O’Rourke, who suffers from a painful auto-immune condition.
Ms Lynch said pursuing the group through lengthy court battles to stop them making tinctures and oils, would cost taxpayers dearly.
She said legal bills for one of the court cases faced by Esk man Tony Hopkins were up to $80,000 with taxpayers footing further bills to prosecute his case through the courts.
Mr Hopkins, the current co-president of the Legalise Cannabis Queensland Party, was prosecuted in a Queensland court three years ago after police charged him when they found a recipe for making cannabis oil at his home.
After a drawn-out two-year court battle, the now 59-year-old was not convicted or penalised.
“These people are just the tip of the iceberg as there are many others who are using cannabis oils and tinctures for pain relief,” Ms Lynch said.
“Their crime is trying to live a pain-free life, which is costing them a lot and the taxpayer, as well.”