Bridget Lea Bland in court for drugs

A Burnett horse trainer busted with 2kg of cannabis in clip sealed bags, 64 cannabis seedlings, 34 cannabis plants, three bongs and meth claimed she’d grown the cannabis to feed her horses in the drought.

Bridget Lea Bland pleaded guilty to a range of drug charges at Kingaroy Magistrates court.

A South Burnett horse trainer busted with more than 30 marijuana plants on her property, claimed the plants were feed for her horses.

Bridget Lea Bland, 48, pleaded guilty in Kingaroy Magistrate Court on Thursday, December 14 to two counts of possessing dangerous drugs, one count of producing dangerous drugs, one count of possessing utensils or pipes, and one count of the unlawful possession of a category B weapon.

The court heard on September 27, 2023 at about 8.30am police detectives searched Bland’s Murgon address where they found a significant amount of drugs, including marijuana and methamphetamine.

Police prosecutor Lisa Manns listed a large amount of drugs, tools and utensils found at the property, including 2kg of cannabis inside clip sealed bags, another 160g of cannabis in the lounge room, 64 cannabis seedlings, 34 cannabis plants, three bongs, three cone pieces, two pipes in her bedroom, an electric grinder and a clip sealed bag containing methamphetamine weighing 0.5 grams.

“She stated she was aware that growing cannabis was an offence, she had been feeding it to her horses during the current drought,” Sergeant Manns said.

Bridget Lea Bland pleaded guilty to a range of drug charges at Kingaroy Magistrates court.

The court heard Bland admitted to police she smoked cannabis to aid with pain management but did not want to discuss the methamphetamine.

Sgt Manns said Bland also admitted to owning a butterfly knife but said she was unaware it was illegal to do so.

Solicitor Yvette Valdez said the seedlings were also to feed to the horses and “were not of good quality to be used by people”.

Magistrate Andrew Sinclair fined Bland $1200 and a conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Bridget Lea Bland in court for drugs