‘Granny Spliff’: Gran dealt cannabis to pay off ‘$58,000 Centrelink debt’

A grandmother who earned thousands of dollars a week dealing drugs says she turned to crime as a way to pay her bills, including an alleged debt of $58,000 owed to Centrelink.

The 58-year-old grandmother, who earned the nickname ‘Granny Spliff’, admitted she initially began selling pot from her public housing apartment in December last year and is believed to have serviced up to 100 customers a day.

Vicki Delaney, from Redfern, Sydney, appeared on Channel Nine’s A Current Affair on Thursday to discuss her former profession, saying she’s put her family “through hell”.

Speaking to journalist Dimity Clancey, she said: “I was turning a lot of them away, especially the ICE addicts. I refused to have any of them round.

“[I did it] to survive Christmas and for the grandchildren. Food, clothes and the rest of it is bills.”

Read more: Gran accused of selling drugs from home ‘to pay off $58k Centrelink debts’.

A Sydney grandmother who claims she made close to $2000 a week from selling pot says she had no other way to pay her bills. #9ACAhttps://t.co/1asGSzDCq4

— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) July 19, 2018

Delaney was caught and arrested in July, with police alleging that she had deposited more than $25,000 into the bank account of her five-year-old grandson. A claim which Delaney denies.

She used the windfall from selling cannabis to buy food, clothes and pay her bills, and even splashed out on lavish Christmas presents for her grandchildren, including motorbikes and a fire engine bunk bed.

During the TV appearance, Delaney revealed she lost her brother and brother-in-law to heroin abuse and advised anyone considering taking up drug dealing not to do it.

“Don’t do it, it’s not worth it,” she said. “My whole life’s fallen apart. I’ve lost my husband, I’ve lost my grandkids. I’ve just put them all through hell.”

Delaney appeared in court earlier this month, facing eight charges, and is currently out on bail and is due to appear in court again on August 5. Her husband Mikaele Saili was also arrested but was not bailed.

It comes after Greens leader Richard Di Natale announced earlier this year he wanted to legalise cannabis, declaring “the war on drugs has failed”.

Speaking on The Project at the time, Senator Di Natale said the country’s approach to drugs has been an “unmitigated disaster”.

“We need to get real about cannabis,” he said. “The war on drugs has failed. Governments around the world are ­realising that prohibition of cannabis causes more harm than it prevents. It’s time Australia joined them and legalised cannabis for adult use.”

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