Fake cannabis smoker found slumped in Southland train station toilet blames back injuries
A former landscaper says he smoked synthetic cannabis due to chronic back pain. But his bid for relief ended with an embarrassing find in a major Melbourne shopping centre’s train station toilet.
Inner South
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A fake-drug user found slumped in a Southland train station toilet after smoking synthetic cannabis has blamed a bad back for puffing the dodgy dope in the dunny.
Andrew Baird-Watson pleaded guilty to drug possession and drug use charges at Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The court heard a witness saw Baird-Watson passed out in the station’s toilet and reported it to police about 2.30pm on July 1 last year.
When officers arrived they found him lying semiconscious on the floor with a drug pipe next to him.
When they stirred him, he said he had taken “synthetic cannabis”.
He had a backpack with him which also contained another 1g of the fake drug, and he was arrested.
He made full admissions to police, saying he had been smoking the synthetic stuff but “didn’t realise it was illegal”.
Representing himself in court the 50-year-old said he had taken the drug because of chronic back pain including a bulging disc, a crushed disc and severe arthritis.
He said he was now on a disability pension because his injuries, caused by years of landscaping and chef work, were so bad.
“It is a regrettable situation,” Mr Watson-Baird said.
“It was my personal drug of choice at the time.”
He said he had not smoked since the incident because he was now on prescribed painkillers to treat his back.
“I’m not tempted to return to smoking that drug,” he said.
“Now I’m on (prescribed) medication, I have no reason to ever return to synthetic cannabis again.”
The court heard Watson-Baird also has a prior for cannabis possession, for which he was given a bond in August last year.
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Magistrate Stephen Lee said “clearly he didn’t cover himself in glory that day” by being found “basically asleep on a toilet floor”.
But he said he accepted his back issue explanation and his promise to not return to illegal drugs.
Baird-Watson was given a 12-month good behaviour bond, with no conviction recorded.
His fake drugs were forfeited.