An 18-year-old has been warned to "think" before considering growing weed for money again.
Magistrate Brett Thomas didn't convict the Inverell man for the single charge of cultivating a prohibited plant however said if he decided to do it again, it "wouldn't take long for police to find out in a small town like Inverell".
Appearing at Inverell Local Court on Thursday, the man was warned, in no uncertain terms, about any similar future offending.
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The charge was laid in November, when police discovered a green house in the backyard of a property, and were informed the 18-year-old was the owner.
When the accused came home, he revealed four potted plants to the police, telling them he'd grown them from seed and learned how to nurture and care for them with supplements.
"I'm just doing this to make a little bit of money on the side", he told them.
The young man's solicitor, Sue Daiken, told the court that "despite what he said to police", he was growing them to save money.
Submitting that he was allowed the use of medical marijuana, he'd decided to grow his own as a way of avoiding the "expensive" cost of legal product.
"He did not think," she told magistrate Thomas.
Magistrate Thomas, speaking directly to the man, said that if he decided to not only grow cannabis but to go on and sell it, it wouldn't take long for the police to find him "especially in a small community like Inverell".
"I understand that cannabis may help you with what you're going through right now... and you should continue to explore that - in the proper way," he advised.
He was given a 12-month community corrections order without conviction.
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