[OG Kush]

A Sydney doctor and cannabis campaigner who grew almost 50,000 "benign" marijuana plants will not be jailed, a Newcastle court has ruled.

Andrew John Katelaris was convicted on March 8 this year after pleading not guilty to cultivating a large commercial quantity of cannabis.

He grew the 49,519 plants on his property at Salisbury, near Dungog in the NSW Hunter Valley, between December 2004 and January 2005.

Laboratory tests revealed the plants, which had initially been estimated by police to have a street value of up to $40 million, had little or no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the ingredient that makes cannabis potent as a drug.

The NSW District Court, which heard sentencing submissions for Katelaris today, accepted the cannabis had no value as an intoxicant.

The court was told Katelaris's licence as a medical practitioner in NSW had been revoked for three years after the NSW Medical Tribunal banned him in December 2005 over the self-administration of cannabis.

The tribunal found he had also supplied the cannabis to some patients.

After a six-day trial in March, Katelaris was found guilty by a jury of growing a commercial crop of cannabis without a licence.

When the jury handed down its decision, Katelaris was threatened with jail by Judge Ralph Coolahan for verbally attacking the verdict in court.

Defence barrister Linda McSpedden today called expert medical witnesses who also acted as character references for Dr Katelaris.

Ms McSpedden argued that a custodial sentence would not be justified given the acceptance by both sides that the cannabis was of no use as a drug.

During the trial, Katelaris had told the court the crop was for scientific research.

He said the study of industrial hemp could solve environmental problems, and claimed he was innocent of any crime.

Uses for his cannabis, he told the court, included producing concrete or using it as material for clothing.

At the time of the verdict, Judge Coolahan ordered a pre-sentence report, saying he was unsure of what sentence to impose because the crop was of no use as a drug.

Judge Coolahan will hand down a sentence on September 12, but he told the court today that Katelaris would not be imprisoned.


Newshawk: SX420 - 420Girls.com
Source: 420Times.com
Pubdate: August 24, 2006
Author: Graham Storer
Copyright: The Australian
Website: www.theaustralian.news.com.au