Nathan Dunning: Elizabeth Town trafficker’s 4.2kg cannabis stash

A Tasmanian disability pensioner who weaned himself off a two-decade heroin addiction was unable to kick his cannabis dependence, with 4.2kg worth of cannabis products discovered.

Elizabeth Town cannabis trafficker Nathan Paul Dunning, 48. Picture: Alex Treacy

A Tasmanian cannabis trafficker busted with 4.2kg worth of cannabis product has been told by a magistrate he was lucky to avoid being dealt with in the Supreme Court.

Elizabeth Town disability pensioner Nathan Paul Dunning, 48, pleaded guilty in Launceston Magistrates Court on Tuesday to five drug-related charges, most seriously trafficking in a controlled substance (minor offence).

Tasmania Police elected to have the trafficking charge dealt with in the lower court.

“I can’t believe they’re not sending you to the Supreme Court,” Magistrate Sharon Cure commented, although she ultimately agreed with the course of action, in light of the fact the stash was for the personal use of Dunning, a daily smoker.

Follow @humidityreport

Dunning was convicted on all five charges and fined $1200, with an additional $171.40 in costs and levies.

Dunning’s offending was detected on May 18 last year when officers from the Northern Drug Investigation Services executed a search warrant on the Bass Hwy residence the defendant shares with his 70-year-old mother.

Officers discovered 10 cannabis plants, a room converted into a grow lab, multiple cardboard boxes full of drying buds and other associated items.

Of the 4.2kg worth of cannabis products uncovered, approximately 2.3kg consisted of stems, leaves and roots associated with the plants, with the bulk of the remainder smokable buds.

The court heard that Dunning made fulsome admissions to police, telling them of how he watered his plants daily, nurtured them in their seedling stage in the grow room, before moving them to the shed, and that he hoped to harvest three pounds dry-weight of buds.

He said he smoked two to three joints a night, more on the weekends.

Dunning told the court he was a recovered heroin addict, who spent approximately two decades addicted to the drug. He said he was a former Gyprock plasterer, but had been on a disability support pension for the past five years. Dunning has a 17-year-old son.

Ms Cure advised Dunning to steer clear of possessing large amounts of cannabis and to not drug drive, for which he had a previous conviction.

Originally published as Nathan Dunning: Elizabeth Town trafficker’s 4.2kg cannabis stash