Cannabis cake baker gets community work

Sharing a cannabis-laced cake with friends was an act of generosity and friendship, Blenheim District Court was told yesterday.

The Blenheim woman who baked it, Celia Bloomfield, became distressed when those who ate it suffered side effects and had to be taken to hospital.

Appearing before Judge Jan Kelly, Bloomfield, 36, pleaded guilty to four charges of supplying cannabis.

She was ordered to pay reparation of $200 each to the four victims and sentenced to perform 40 hours of community work.

The charges arose in October when Bloomfield, president of the Marlborough Pool Association, travelled to Dunedin with fellow members for a tournament.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Steve Frost said that before leaving, Bloomfield baked a cake to take with her, using cannabis as one of the ingredients.

One evening, Bloomfield shared the cake with the group before they went to a local sports bar for the prizegiving.

At the bar several of the group became dizzy and began hallucinating and suffering panic attacks. They were confused and suspected their drinks had been spiked, Mr Frost said.

Bloomfield approached police and told them about the cannabis cake as soon as she became aware of what had happened.

"She said she did not think it would cause such a reaction," Mr Frost said.

Defence lawyer Mike Hardy-Jones said those on the minibus to the tournament knew the cake was laced with cannabis as its contents had been discussed.

When her friends became adversely affected, Bloomfield approached ambulance and police as soon as she could to let them know what had happened.

"It was an act of generosity and friendship on her part -- it wasn't malicious," he said.

Mr Hardy-Jones said the group had all been good friends and Bloomfield had since suffered greatly.

- NZPA