A South Australian man made a strange discovery this week after finding an illegal dumping of cannabis plants during a Sunday morning jog.
John Elferink was walking along Piggot Range Road in Onkaparinga last weekend when he discovered seven large, red trash bags. When he opened them, he discovered they were entirely filled with cannabis. The scene had clearly been the site of illegal dumping, with the rural area littered with tires and broken furniture.
During an interview with Channel Seven, the Adelaide father of two would explain that the cannabis was clearly freshly cut before being shoved into bags.
How the cannabis came to rest on the side of the road in Onkaparinga is anyone’s guess. Police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward, but in this case, it seems likely no one wants to claim their trash bags full of hash.
However, when it comes to people randomly finding huge trash bags of Cannabis, Elferink was clearly the best person for the job. Not only was he a former Police Detective in Northern Territory, but he spent time in the Drug Squad. During his media interview, he was happy to re-enact the discovery, saying:
I could certainly smell the cannabis and of course you could see what it was.
Interestingly, cannabis may soon be travelling through Onkaparinga every day, as Onkaparinga will soon be home to LeafCann’s $50 million medical cannabis plant.
The plant, which will employ over 1,400 people from the local area, will cultivate, research, and manufacture medical cannabis, as part of a $350 million medical cannabis development.
However, LeafCann’s facility is clearly not the culprit here, as the manufacturing plant is still under development. Although the pandemic has increased cannabis sales online, the offline industry has been suffering. LeafCann’s facility is one of just many projects stalled by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Although the debate over legalizing recreational cannabis is still ongoing in Australia, it’s certainly strange to see the contrast between the treatment of the drug legally and illegally.
While these seven bags of cannabis will be burned and destroyed by police, the same plant will be grown, legally, within the same suburb – boosting the local economy with over 1400 new jobs for locals.
Although LeafCann is privately owned, they supply medical cannabis to Creso Pharma (ASX: CPH), who are just of 18 medical cannabis companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
