MUM TAUGHT SON TO SPOT CANNABIS

'Demonstration Was Punishment'

Invercargill: A woman who showed her asthmatic son how to spot cannabis was
sentenced to supervision when she appeared before Judge Phil Moran in the
Invercargill District Court yesterday.

A 39-year-old woman, granted name suppression, was sentenced to a year's
supervision, having earlier admitted supplying her 13-year-old son with
cannabis after she caught him stealing from her stash on June 6.

Counsel Shelley Gray said the woman had immediately realised what she had
done, contacting the Department of Child, Youth and Family before admitting
herself to hospital, and had since sought help for drug addiction.

Judge Moran said the woman had shown the boy how to spot cannabis.

"You are an addict yourself and you also have problems with alcohol. It is
in that context you thought if he was going to start playing with drugs you
might as well show him how to do it properly," Judge Moran said.

The woman said she had intended the demonstration as an alternative
punishment, rather than resorting to physical violence.

"It was okay having a go, and don't touch my drugs again," she said was the
message she wanted to give the boy.

Judge Moran said the woman was a caring parent who had wanted to keep her
children from harm, and the sentence imposed was to help her overcome her
own drug problems.