Toowoomba mum fined for using cannabis as a ‘sleeping pill’

The woman told police she had been using cannabis to help with sleep but the fine imposed was a sobering experience.

The woman said she was using cannabis to help her sleep.

A 48-year-old mum will have to find more traditional methods of sleep assistance after her stash of cannabis which she used as a “sleeping pill” was found by police.

Bronwyn Lee McGrady told police the cannabis found at her home during a police search on January 18 she had been using to help her sleep, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Police had found three clip seal bags with “green leafy material” during the search, one containing 15.5g of cannabis, another with 10.5g and a third with 0.7g, for a total of 26.7g of drug, police prosecutor Rohan Brewster-Webb told the court.

Police had also found four water pipes for smoking the cannabis, he said.

McGrady pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous drug and drug utensils.

Her solicitor Michael McElhinney told the court the mother of three instructed she smoked cannabis to help sleep and with her depression.

He had explained to his client that not only was the substance illegal but it could have detrimental health effects for her in the circumstances, Mr McElhinney said.

Magistrate Graham Lee noted McGrady had been fined for a drug offence in 2018.

Telling her that 26g of cannabis was not “a very small amount of drug”, Mr Lee convicted and fined her $900.