Woman fined for smoking cannabis in hospital

"No cannabis in hospital, please," a judge told Te Iringa Honiana in Tauranga District Court today.

"You know half the people up there are in there because of it," said Judge Thomas Ingram.

He fined the 40-year-old unemployed woman $100 for possessing cannabis yesterday at Tauranga Hospital's mental health unit.

She pleaded guilty.

Police were called after hospital staff saw Honiana smoking cannabis. A search of her room revealed six grams of poor quality plant in a plastic bag, prosecutor Sergeant Barry Woon told the court.

The defendant refused to answer any questions or offer any explanation, he said.

- NZPA