CANNABIS SUPPLY LAW TESTED

Legal rules about the amount of cannabis that automatically triggers
a suspicion of offering to sell or supply the drug are being
challenged in the High Court at Christchurch.

Defence counsel Margaret Sewell has raised the question of how much
cannabis a very heavy user might consume in the course of a day.

At the centre of the case is a 37-year-old woman who told Crown
prosecutor James Rapley that she had consumed cannabis about 8am
yesterday before she came to court. Marea Lee Marino told him: "I
smoked a joint of bush, and a joint of skunk, and I dropped a cap of
hash oil to get me through the day. Do you think I'm stoned? I'm
functioning quite normally I think."

Four packages of cannabis weighing a total of 85g were found when
police raided the home of Marea Marino and her husband Robbie James
Edward Marino, on July 10. Five capsules of the drug magic mushrooms
were also found.

Mr Rapley said that when 28g or more of cannabis was found, it was up
to the accused to convince the jury that the drugs were not for sale
or supply.

Marea Marino, a sickness beneficiary, has denied charges of
possession of cannabis and magic mushrooms for sale or supply, and
Robbie Marino, 41, unemployed, has denied the cannabis charge.

Marea Marino said she was a very heavy user, smoking between eight
and 15 cigarettes a day, and the drugs found were for her own use.
She said her husband did not use cannabis.

The court heard scientific evidence of findings from a blood test
that she voluntarily took at the police station to show her level of
cannabis use. The level of THC - the active ingredient in cannabis -
was found to be 6mcg per litre of blood, ESR scientist Dr Helen
Poulsen said.

"That level is consistent with heavy smoking within one or two days
prior to the sample being taken."

Detective Sergeant Tom Fitzgerald, of the drug squad, told the court
that he did not believe that someone could smoke up to 15 cannabis
cigarettes a day and continue to function properly. "It would be
unusual for a heavy user to smoke more than six cigarettes in a day,"
he said.

Told that the defence would call scientific evidence from a
neuro-pharmacologist of the level of cannabis consumption, Mr
Fitzgerald said: "He's talking from a scientific point of view. My
experience is from dealing with these people on a day to day basis on
the street."

Marea Marino, a mother of four, gave evidence that she had hepatitis
C and cannabis eased pain, improved her appetite, and stopped her
tiredness. She said it was easy to smoke the amount she claimed. She
had about a joint every hour.

"I never let myself get to the tired stage of coming down, because
really I don't come down. I just keep smoking. They get me stoned,
but not to the extent where I can't function. I'm not one to sit
around."

She said she had been given the magic mushrooms and had forgotten to
throw them away. She did not use them, and regarded them as "the
devil's drug".

She said the cannabis affected her short-term memory and if she was
dealing in drugs she would not have been able to remember customer
details.

She said she had been a poly-drug addict. "I started taking drugs at
14. I gave up everything but cannabis at 29 when I met Robbie. My
life was plummeting downhill, but he made me choose between him and
drugs. I chose him."

Asked by Mr Rapley to say where she got her cannabis, she said: "I
won't tell you. I'm not on a death wish today."

The Crown said a set of scales found at the house were used to weigh
cannabis for sale, but Marea Marino said it was for when she bought
cannabis, to ensure she got the correct amount.

Police found $565 in her jeans during the raid on the house, but she
said she had won it on poker machines at a local hotel, and police
checks had verified that she had a series of big wins. She told the
court she then tried to buy cannabis to last her till Christmas.

The trial before Justice Young and jury will finish today.