Police have seized more than 400 cannabis plants from a Bibra Lake home that had been converted into an elaborate grow-house setup. Credit:WA Police More than 400 cannabis plants have been seized by police after a raid on a Bibra Lake home this week. Organised Crime Squad detectives with Taskforce Silverdrift executed a search warrant on the Della Drive home on Monday, discovering the house had been converted into an elaborate cannabis-growing setup. A total of 10 rooms in the house had been converted to grow cannabis and power to the house had been illegally tampered with. “Detectives seized over 400 mature cannabis plants, over 100 light shades and a number of globes,” a Police Media spoke

A cannabis advocate who pleaded guilty to cultivating nine plants on his property was fined $800 but avoided a conviction. Facing the Ballarat Magistrates' Court, Jason Foster said he worked with organisations and governments "here and abroad" to reform laws around cannabis. Representing himself, he said this was his first time in court, with no prior convictions, and he only intended to use the plants himself. According to the police summary, the Ballarat divisional response unit found nine plants, four seedlings, a container of seeds, and three bags of cannabis after raiding his address in March. He made partial admissions in a police interview at the time, but made further admissions in c

Photo: For veteran Brad Schafer, 25, PTSD is a daily battle. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Tessa Mapstone) Veteran Brad Schafer has been placed on suicide watch four times since being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in 2016. Related Story: Australian veterans with PTSD to trial medicinal cannabis treatment Related Story: Veterans' Minister can't 'see the point' of suicides royal commission Related Story: 'It changed my life': Study looks at benefit of art therapy in treating PTSD Key points: Young veteran with PTSD immediately signs up for medicinal cannabis trial Medications used to treat the disorder cause him crippling side effects The Australian Defence Force reports about 8.

One of the wooden braziers with burnt stones found in tombs at the Jirzankal Cemetery. (Supplied: Xinhua Wu) Humans smoked cannabis as part of ritualised burial ceremonies 2,500 years ago, according to the latest evidence unearthed at a burial site on the Pamir Plateau in western China. Key points: Archaeologists have found traces of cannabis in wooden pots exhumed from tombs in western China The find provides the strongest and earliest evidence to date, of cannabis being smoked for its psychoactive properties It appears cannabis was an important part of ancient burial rites But before you imagine ancient stoners passing around a primitive bong, the reality was probably quite different, arch

There have been 49 prescriptions of medicinal cannabis in the ACT since it was approved for use in November 2016. ACT Health says it has approved seven doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis for a total of 28 patients. There have been three occasions - all for patients with chronic pain - where medicinal cannabis was approved for a condition not listed in the ACT Controlled Medicines Prescribing Standards. The ACT Greens say it's too hard for patients in the ACT to access medicinal cannabis. They previously called on the government to extend the proposed laws allowing small amounts of cannabis for personal use. They want people who use cannabis medicinally to be allowed to possess a larger

Photo: The study will use a baseline dose that uses the non-psychoactive part of medicinal cannabis. (Supplied: BOD Australia) An Australian-first trial using medicinal cannabis to treat returned servicemen and women suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been launched today that targets defence personnel who have not had a response to conventional treatments. Key points: Researchers are seeking 300 people to take part in the national trial, which has attracted attention from the veteran community The Australian Defence Force reports about 8.3 per cent of its members have experienced PTSD in the past 12 months The ADF says the rate among males is almost double the general c

Photo: The ACT Government has made a bid to legalise personal use of marijuana. (Flickr: Nena B) Related Story: 'Legalising' cannabis in Canberra will put more smokers behind bars, police warn Related Story: Canberra wants to become the cannabis capital — but could the laws go up in smoke? On the surface, legalising marijuana in Canberra seems a fairly simple proposition. But if ACT Labor thinks its bill is going to float through the Legislative Assembly, it is mistaken. Possession of small amounts of the drug is already decriminalised in the ACT and punishable by a $100 fine, but, since the idea of legalising cannabis was mooted, more questions have been raised than answers. One major conce

A Crescent Head man was ordered to serve 12 months' home detention and an intensive corrections order after he was found guilty of a range of drug related matters. Anthony David Bower, 63 of Crescent Head Road, appeared before Magistrate J Price in Port Macquarie Local Court on April 18, 2019. Bower was charged with, cultivating a prohibited plant, possession of a prohibited drug, dealing with the property of crime, cultivating a prohibited plant and the manufacture or production of a prohibited drug. He pleaded guilty to the charges. Bower was ordered to serve an 18 month intensive corrections order which will expire on October 17, 2020. That order includes standard conditions including, no

Under the proposed bill, Canberrans possessing up to 50g of cannabis or growing four cannabis plants would no longer be committing a criminal offence. File photo. The ACT Government has been encouraged to collaborate with ACT Policing to adopt a new model of cannabis drug driving tests that determine impairment and not just the presence of the drug if marijuana is to be legalised in the ACT. After four months of scrutinising legislation proposing the legalisation of marijuana, the ACT Legislative Assembly’s health committee has recommended the bill be supported but said there will need to be amendments before the bill is passed. The majority of the committee, led by Labor MLA Bec Cody, said

GREEN THUMB: A man has faced Orange Local Court for growing cannabis for his own medicinal use. FILE PHOTO A man has been fined in Orange Local Court for cultivating two marijuana plants that weighed 20 kilograms each. On April 10, police conducted a search warrant at the Warrendine Street home of Kenneth Norman Sharpe, 51, and found two cannabis plants in a raised garden bed that had a mesh fence and laser light roof. One of the plants was 1.5 metres high and the other was between two and 2.25 metres in height. The plants were fertilised and the garden was mulched. "I have no doubt you've seen medical practitioners for dealing with pain, you are going to have to go back to that." Alexander

Australia continues to lag behind much of the Western world in reforming its drug laws and putting a full stop behind the disastrous war on drugs. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the nation’s marijuana laws. New Zealanders are set to have a referendum on legalising recreational cannabis next year. Recreational use is already legal throughout Canada, much of the US, and several nations in Europe, South America and Africa. It’s almost inevitable that Australia will follow suit and finally end the failed prohibition of cannabis. Though you can expect the Nanny Staters to fight that every step of the way. The Australian Capital Territory is taking the lead in the fight to remove law enforce

Earlier this week mother and grandmother Vonda Tillig pleaded guilty to drug cultivation at the Geelong Magistrates Court. She received a good behaviour bond for growing ten cannabis plants in her vegetable patch. The reason she grew them? To help her son stay off heroin and ice. Vonda Tillig explained the situation to 3AW’s Neil Mitchell. Press PLAY below to hear the story. Originally published here: https://www.3aw.com.au/it-kept-him-away-from-the-drug-dealers-mum-convicted-of-drug-cultivation-explains-why-she-did-it/

ACT politicians are being urged to allow legally growing four cannabis plants each for personal use The ACT's politicians are being urged to allow Canberrans to legally grow up to four cannabis plants each for personal use. Two out of the three members of a Legislative Assembly committee examining a private member's bill to legalise cannabis have recommended their colleagues support the legislation with some changes. Committee chair, Labor MLA Bec Cody, says these changes would make the law more representative of the community's needs. The ACT decriminalised cannabis use in 1993. Now the committee says legislation put up by Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson should pass and allow Canberran