MAN'S CANNABIS SURVEY EXPENSIVE EXERCISE

Nine out of 10 passers-by on George St, Dunedin, are law-abiding
citizens but the 10th, it appears, is quite happy to accept a free
puff on a cannabis pipe.

In the Dunedin District Court yesterday, the man who conducted the
"survey" discovered it was an expensive exercise.

Before Judge Tony Adeane was Johnnie Lawson Altenburg (36), caregiver,
of Roxburgh, who admitted supplying cannabis, possessing a cannabis
smoking pipe and possessing cannabis.

Prosecutor Senior Sergeant Steve Armitage said Altenburg asked nine
people in George St if they would like to smoke his cannabis pipe. All
refused but the 10th accepted.

Altenburg told police he was conducting a survey to see how many
people would smoke cannabis if it was offered to them. It was a
reality test, he said.

In court, he said he did not "fit" in the city but was in Dunedin
because he was the caregiver for a dying tetraplegic relation in hospital.

Regarding Altenburg's action as "some sort of eccentric curiosity"
without a commercial motive, the judge imposed a conviction and a $750
fine, court costs $130, for supplying cannabis. Altenburg was
convicted and discharged on the two other matters.