Cat turns dobber

From the archives of an Australian Cannabis Users’ Website    (Nov 2003)

Cranky cat grasses on pot-growing owner 

In leafy Artarmon, the greenery is not confined to the garden. A cranky cat whose meows worried the neighbours has exposed its owner as a small-scale cannabis grower.

Cranky at having been left alone for the weekend, the tabby meowed so loudly that neighbours called the RSPCA. What they found was a fat and happy feline living among a brightly lit jungle of cannabis plants worth nearly $100,000.

The cat's owner, Rhonda M., 49, an unemployed landscape gardener, had turned her green thumb to hydroponic marijuana cultivation while recovering from a back injury.

She pleaded guilty in North Sydney Local Court yesterday to possessing an indictable quantity of cannabis and faces a maximum two years in jail and a $11,000 fine.

Police said Ms M had used an apartment she lived in to grow 12 cannabis plants, which were 100-150 centimetres high, and 16 seedlings, 20 centimetres high, with a collective street value of $92,000.

On April 19 police searched the two-storey apartment and discovered the plants groaning with buds and housed in an illuminated storage cupboard and shower recess.

The rented apartment was scattered with plant-growing paraphernalia. Police found bottles of "root accelerant", propagation gel and plant food, as well as a 400-watt transformer and globes, timers, a powerboard, timber stakes, scales and bags of dried cannabis and seeds.

The storage cupboard, beneath an internal staircase, was covered with sheets of heavy black plastic. An extension lead ran from the kitchen to a powerboard in the cupboard, which had a small electric fan and a 400-watt lamp connected to it. Upstairs, the ensuite window and shower recess were also covered with black plastic, and a lamp hung above the shower.

Ms M. was arrested on May 6 after she returned from a trip away for the Easter weekend.

Police made the discovery after an RSPCA inspector contacted a real estate agent, who let her into the flat, an RSPCA spokeswoman said.

Ms M. will appear in North Sydney Local Court on December 23 for sentencing.

Comments

[Tjilpi]

I'm almost 100% sure that Chatterley will never dob you in for anything.

[elsewhere]

My god, you are super-cat sleuth! I think you should just run an anti-cat sub-blog.

[Jude]

Yep, have thought about it. But would prefer to have a sub-blog that is PRO something rather than ANTI. Still trying to work out what I feel most pro about.
Meanwhile still reeling from some of the stories from my five-cat-possessed friends who visited yesterday. Nowadays I feel compelled to warn people about the dire health risks of sleeping with your cat.