Stephen William Fazackerley faces Toowoomba Magistrates Court for growing cannabis for ‘personal use’

A 71-year-old who was caught in possession of a cannabis plant was reminded that while it might be legal under ACT legislation it was not legal in Queensland.

A 71-year-old Toowoomba man who thought it legal to grow his own cannabis has been reminded that it was not – not in Queensland anyway.

When police attended Stephen William Fazackerley’s Toowoomba home on June 11, on a report of a disturbance, the 71-year-old told officers his daughter had taken his cannabis.

He told officers he was growing three plants which he believed was legal because it was for his own personal use but there was only one plant left, Toowoomba Magistrates Court was told.

When told that growing a small amount of cannabis was legal under ACT legislation but that it was illegal to grow any of the drug in Queensland, Fazackerley had appeared “shocked and bewildered”, police prosecutor Bettina Trenear told the court.

The man’s lone cannabis plant was uprooted by police.

Fazackerley then led police to his bedroom and retrieved from under his bed a bag of chopped leaf which amounted to 170g of cannabis which he said he used in his cooking as pain relief and that he rubbed some of the leaf on himself for a skin ailment, she said.

Fazackerley also showed police the one plant of cannabis growing in his backyard which was uprooted by police and seized, the court heard.

Fazackerley, who had no criminal history at all, pleaded guilty to producing and possessing a dangerous drug.

His solicitor Craig van der Hoven, of Creevey Horrell Lawyers, told the court his client had otherwise been a hardworking member of the community involved in construction most of his working life.

Fazackerley had suffered a number of health problems including being told he had 12 months to live when he was 27, bowel cancer in his 30s, throat cancer in his 40s, a diagnosis of fibrosis in his lungs in 2017 and in 2021 he had a heart attack, he said.

His client had been placed on a variety of medications which led to psoriasis and allergies and so he had experimented with the use of cannabis, believing he could grow some plants for himself, he said.

Fazackerley now had a prescription for medical cannabis and would not be back before the court, Mr van der Hoven said.

Magistrate Clare Kelly ordered the convictions not be recorded and fined Fazackerley $500.