Magnet draws cops to cannabis

Trent Bruce Torrens didn't have much luck with his efforts to grow a little cannabis for himself and save on electricity, Darwin Magistrates Court heard yesterday.

Last September he set up a hydroponics system in the laundry of his Woodroffe residence and tried to grow several plants, prosecutor Sergeant Gavin Kennedy said.

On Christmas Eve, he got hold of a cloned plant, which he began to nurture.

Torrens then put a heavy-duty magnet on his electricity meter in an attempt to slow it.

While waiting for his plant to mature, he bought a small amount of cannabis to smoke and $80 worth of methylamphetamine at a city hotel.

That day, February 15, while he was at work, police searched his home and found the plant growing under lights in the downstairs laundry.

Asked about the magnet, he said: ``I put it there to save on my power bill.''

Yesterday, Torrens, 29, pleaded guilty to cultivating and possessing cannabis, possessing methylamphetamine and interfering with an electrical meter.

The magnet was there only three weeks before the police came around, he told Magistrate John Lowndes.

He said his power bills showed that there was only $54 difference to the bill from the same quarter a year earlier.

``It was hardly worth it,'' Mr Lowndes said.

``Definitely not worth it,'' Torrens said. ``I was just growing one plant downstairs to save some money.

``I tried for five months and failed. Then I got lucky and got a cloned plant.

``I made a mistake.

``I stuffed up and now I have to pay the price.''

Mr Lowndes said the $50 or so saved by the magnet on the meter would ``pale into insignificance'' beside the fine of $350 for that offence.

He imposed a total of $300 on the drug charges, added $160 in victim levies and forfeited the hydroponic equipment.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thur, 09 June 2005
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: Bob Watt
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/283