60 year old man the latest Victim of Cannabis prohibition
Cannabis Prohibition is more dangerous than Cannabis!!!
A 60 year old man with serious medical issues who made a choice to grow his own cannabis for pain relief felt deeply embarrassed to be before the courts.
This is the case of a man who I wont name out of respect, who’s originally from the Czech Republic living in the beautiful west Cork fishing village of Union Hall.
The Gardaí obtained a warrant to search the defendants home on October 28th 2020 as they believed the man was growing and storing Cannabis at his home. The Gardaí say they arrived at the house but no-one was home but the found an open backdoor , so they entered the house to execute the search warrant.
Upon searching the house the Gardaí found Cannabis in airtight bags and jars in the bedroom and sitting room. They also found a cannabis growing operation which had immature cannabis plants growing which were given an estimated value of €7000 should they of reached maturity and been harvested. The Cannabis herb in the bags and jars was valued at €14,000 (700 grams @€20/gram garda valuation) .
As the defendant was not home the Gardaí took all the cannabis and left a note there for the home owner. The note stated that the Gardaí had seized the cannabis and would like for them to call the Gardaí when they get the message.
The defendant after receiving the message and finding all his medicine/cannabis gone he presented himself to the Gardaí and admitted to having the cannabis for his own use, to treat his chronic pain.
The detective involved in the case Garda Ryan said the defendant “admitted growing cannabis with a view to making oil and he admitted supplying cannabis to others without any profit or financial gain, he just gave it to them”.
The defence barrister, Peter O Flynn said the defendant “is deeply embarrassed by his position in court and he is quite remorseful.”
Judge Dara Hayes who was presiding over the case said “It is unusual for someone at 60 who was never involved in drugs in any way to find themselves in this situation”. The Judge then handed the man a 2 year and 8 month prison sentence but suspended it entirely.
Final Thoughts
While the judge might find it unusual for a man like this to be before him its going to become a much more regular thing until the MCAP (Medical Cannabis Access Program) is fit for purpose. Currently patients like this man who suffer with chronic pain are excluded from the MCAP leaving them with the choice to either not break the law and suffer or to break the law and live a higher quality of life with less pain or no pain.
Patient like Aimee Brown had to break the law for years to treat her chronic pain and other symptoms of her Endometriosis. After years of pushing for safe and legal access Aimee just recently received a Ministerial licence to access Cannabis to treat her pain. Should Aimee of been caught with her Cannabis just a week ago she would of been dragged through the courts like this man was. Now she holds the licence she no longer has to worry about being treated like a criminal for wanting to live a better quality of life with reduced or eliminated pain levels.
There have been many people before the courts like this man people like Paul Lee (also from West Cork) who was caught with €4 worth of Cannabis and reggarded as a dirty person for his use of cannabis by the judge who said he wanted to see him “get clean”. Another is the case of Evelyn Corrigan a legally blind pensioner who was growing her own cannabis to treat her chronic pain.
A headline from the article with Evelyn Corrigan’s case
A headline from the article covering Paull Lee’s case
