Shane Wagener: Corinella man avoids jail after growing cannabis plants

A farmer who grew a large amount of cannabis plants because he believed his skin cancer had no end in sight, has avoided jail.

Shane Wagener avoided jail after pleading guilty to growing cannabis plants on his Corinella property.

A Corinella farmer who grew a large amount of cannabis plants to treat his skin cancer has avoided jail.

Shane Wagener, 49, pleaded guilty at the County Court to one charge of cultivating a narcotic plant in a commercial quantity.

The court heard detectives from Bass Coast criminal investigation unit and Morwell divisional tasking unit searched Wagener’s Corinella property on March 8, 2019.

Police found 102 cannabis plants growing in soil at the back of the property and 32 smaller plants growing in a hydroponic set up in the garage

In a police interview, Wagener said he grew the drug for “personal use” and had “no intention” of selling it.

“I consumed large amounts of it, like it was going out of fashion,” Wagener told police.

Wagener said he smoked, cooked, ate and made oil from the cannabis.

On May 12, Wagener’s lawyer Stephanie Joosten said the man was first diagnosed with skin cancer in 2002 and had more than 100 cancers removed from his body.

“In the last two to three years, the rate and frequency of those skin cancers have increased dramatically,” Ms Joosten said.

Ms Joosten said Wagener, who owns an organic farm, became interested in “alternative herbal therapies” after becoming distressed and concerned at different medical opinions regarding his illness.

“In his view, the skin cancers seemed to have no end in sight,” she said.

“In that desperate state of mind he resorted to experimenting with cannabis.”

Prosecutor David O’Doherty argued the offending was sophisticated.

“It’s a serious example of commercial quantity cultivation,” he said.

Judge Frances Dalziel said Wagener regretted his conduct.

“In your letter to the court, you said you were embarrassed and ashamed of your actions,” she said.

Judge Dalziel accepted there was no evidence of Wagener growing the cannabis to sell it.

She said he was the sole consumer, using it for alternative therapy to treat his cancer.

“In your case, I do not think your offending is so serious that only a sentence of imprisonment is necessary,” she said.

Wagener was sentenced to a community correction order for a period of four years with conviction.

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