CANNABIS GROWER DENIED HOME DETENTION

Home detention was "inappropriate" for a man who had been growing
cannabis to supplement his sickness benefit, a judge said today.

It was precisely the sort of offending Lawrence Frederick Williams
had been committing from home, said Judge Christopher Harding in
Tauranga District Court.

Williams, 43, was jailed for 12 months when he appeared for sentence
on four charges - cultivating, possessing and supplying cannabis, and
possessing methamphetamine.

He had converted a bedroom for growing cannabis, a drug he had been
smoking for 20 years. The window of the purpose-made room was blocked
to prevent neighbours from seeing the glow of the grow lamps.

The defendant was nabbed after police visited the house on an
unrelated matter, smelt dope and found the drugs. There were 30
plants about eight weeks old and 338g of dried cannabis material.

He told police he had sold enough "tinnies" for $20 each over the
previous two months to make $1000. The rest he smoked himself.

Lawyer Jim Smylie said Williams acknowledged he had a problem with
cannabis and had also had trouble with alcohol.

"But he has solved that. He has been off the booze for three years."

Since appearing in court in May, Williams had started a fulltime
forestry job and was "trying to do something with himself," Mr Smylie said.

Judge Harding ruled out community work and home detention. Williams,
he said, had a "significant addiction".

After his release from prison, special conditions would remain in
place for six months, including treatment for drug and alcohol dependency.

Six months imprisonment for cultivating cannabis, plus a month each
for possessing cannabis and a small amount of methamphetamine will be
served concurrently with the year imposed for selling the drug.

- - NZPA