'Disquiet' over lenient drug charge

A district court judge has taken Northland police to task for not charging a man found with 2.4kg of cannabis with possessing the drug for supply.
Judge Duncan Harvey has expressed concern over police handling of its case against Kaipara man Johnny Moodie, who was found with 13 cannabis plants over a metre tall and 2.4kg of cannabis - almost 87 times the amount normally recognised as being for supply.
Moodie, 41, was only charged with cultivating cannabis while the Misuse of Drugs Act says that anybody found with more than 28 grams of the drug is presumed to be possessing it for supply.
When Moodie appeared in the Dargaville Court court on the charge, Judge Harvey said he had sent people to jail for far lesser amounts than what Moodie had pleaded guilty to possessing.
Northland police chief Superintendent Mike Rusbatch said the officer in charge of the search warrant was an experienced detective sergeant and while other charges were considered, it was felt that cultivating cannabis was the most appropriate one.
Mr Rusbatch said while there was a statutory presumption for supply of cannabis there was no compelling evidence in this case that indicated supply had occurred. "Above 28g there is that presumption, but from our perspective we still like to know there's evidence that supply has occurred." 
Police searched Moodie's Dargaville home in May and found seven cannabis plants in the basement, some 1.4 metre tall, being grown under lights with a fan and extractor system. Another six 1.6m plants were found in a cupboard grown with a  sophisticated growing system.
Moodie said he smoked as much as 28g of cannabis a week, or eight joints a day, and had done so since the 1980s for pain relief against a painful spinal disease.
Defence lawyer Aaron Russell said Moodie was unable to use other pain killers because they either made him too sleepy or ill and apart from the plants, there was no other evidence the plants were being being grown for supply.
Judge Harvey conceded police might have had good reason as to why there had been no further charges but felt he had needed to signal to the court his concern. He said the cultivation had been a  sophisticated operation and, while Moodie claimed self-medication, this explanation had been used  many times before.
He convicted and sentenced Moodie to four months' community detention and 12 months' supervision.
Northland Crown prosecutor Mike Smith was surprised at the charge, saying while it was not his office that prosecuted Moodie, the law made it clear that anybody found to have more than 28g of cannabis was presumed to have it for supply.
THE FACTS:
* Northland is the cannabis capital of the country with 67,508 plants ripped out or doused with blue herbicide during last season's police cannabis-recovery operation.
* Northland's top policeman, Superintendent Mike Rusbatch, said 40 per cent of the country's cannabis crop was grown in Northland.
* In 2008, there were 1261 cannabis-related reported crimes in Northland, 117 new drugs crimes and 47 reported offences that were drug related but not
cannabis.
* New Zealand has one of the highest rates of cannabis use in the world, with 80 per cent of those aged 25 saying they had used the drug.