Fine for ‘sleeping pill’ drug

A 48-YEAR-OLD mum who used cannabis as a sleeping pill has been given a wake-up call via a hefty fine.

Bronwyn Lee McGrady told police the cannabis found at her home during a police search on January 18 she had been using to help her sleep, Toowoomba Magistrates Court heard.

Police had found three clip seal bags with “green leafy material” during the search, one containing 15.5g of cannabis, another with 10.5g and a third with 0.7g, for a total of 26.7g of drug, police prosecutor Rohan Brewster-Webb told the court.

Police had also found four water pipes for smoking the cannabis, he said.

McGrady pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous drug and drug utensils.

Her solicitor Michael McElhinney told the court the mother of three instructed she smoked cannabis to help sleep and with her depression.

He had explained to his client that not only was the substance illegal but it could have detrimental health effects for her, Mr McElhinney said.

Magistrate Graham Lee noted McGrady had been fined for a drug offence in 2018.

Telling her that 26g of cannabis was not “a very small amount of drug”, Mr Lee convicted and fined her $900.