Woman jailed over $84k cannabis venture

A cannabis plant. File photo / APN

A Christchurch woman who ran a cannabis growing venture producing an estimated $84,000 a year has been jailed for two years one month.

It was the second time Rosemary Thompson Edwards, 32, had been jailed for cannabis offending.

She had earlier been jailed for three years for dealing in the drug, and Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders said she would have been well aware of the risks of her latest offending.

Police shut down the operation when they raided the Styx Mill Rd property on the northern outskirts of Christchurch a year ago. They found part of a 15m shipping container had been partitioned off and contained a sophisticated growing room with lights, fan, fertiliser, dehumidifier, and 35 seedlings and cannabis plants.

Dried cannabis totalling 537gm, with a street value of $5700, was found at the house in snap-sealable bags and in a plastic container.

Police estimated the operation could have produced cannabis worth $84,000 a year.

"This was clearly a commercial type operation," said Judge Saunders as he sentenced Edwards on charges of cultivating cannabis and possessing the drug for supply.

She had pleaded guilty before trial, when the Crown moved to get permission to put details of her previous cannabis offending before the jury.

Defence counsel Elizabeth Bulger described Edwards' medical background to the court, but the details were suppressed. She said Edwards had now decided twice to use cannabis as a means of self-medication.

Crown prosecutor Heather McKenzie said the sophisticated and organised operation showed "significant indications of commerciality".

Judge Saunders said the jail sentence would allow Edwards, who has the care of a daughter, the chance to do a programme within the prison to deal with her cannabis dependency.

An appearance before the Parole Board would provide the chance for her to seek early release from prison under residential restrictions.

- NZPA