Truck driver ordered to hand over his $4050 of cannabis profits

A truck driver who set up a cannabis trafficking business from his Huon Valley shed, after initially growing the drug to alleviate his back pain, has been ordered to hand over his cash profits.

A Huon Valley man has avoided a jail sentence after he was sprung by police growing and harvesting cannabis in his shed.

A FORMER Hobart council worker who grew cannabis to alleviate his and his wife’s chronic back pain — and make some extra cash — will be forced to give up the $4050 he made in profit.

Truck driver Alan Ross Webster, 61, avoided being sent to jail on Wednesday and was instead given a four-month suspended sentence by the Supreme Court of Tasmania.

Justice Robert Pearce said police attended Webster’s Upper Woodstock property in April last year and found him trimming harvested cannabis in his shed.

He said the shed was specially equipped for de-leafing, drying and storing the plants, and contained 530g of cannabis head on drying racks, two buckets with 1740g of dried product, 100g in another container and four containers of cannabis butter.

“Your primary motivation was to produce cannabis for you and your wife to smoke for relief from chronic back pain. However, you also admitted selling about a third of the yield to two other people for cash,” Justice Pearce said.

Webster was employed by the Hobart City Council for 30 years until he was made redundant and suffered a workplace back injury about 19 years ago.

Webster sold about 27 ounces of the drug during 2018, making between $4050 and $5400.

Justice Pearce said while the production was organised, it was a “relatively small quantity” with a modest amount sold.

Webster, who pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a controlled substance, was given 28 days to pay his profits back to the state of Tasmania.