A court was told that a Dublin man (31) caught with cannabis after Gardaí searched a business premises had “dabbled very briefly” in smoking the drug.

The defendant, with an address at (redacted), Co Dublin, admitted possession of cannabis on December 2, 2019.

Garda Kieran Moloney told Swords District Court that Gardaí obtained a warrant to search the business premises of another individual.

Gda Moloney said the defendant was there at the time, and cannabis was found on the counter of the garage that had a street value of €60 (3 grams valued at €20/gram).

The defendant admitted ownership of the drug and signed the garda’s notebook.

The court was told the defendant had 49 previous convictions, including a number for public order and drugs-related offences.

Defence solicitor Fiona D’Arcy said this incident took place over three years ago and the defendant had “dabbled very briefly in smoking cannabis”, adding also that the defendant had since completely stopped using Cannabis.

She asked the judge to be lenient, saying the defendant had co-operated with Gardaí

The defendant was convicted and fined €200 by Judge Dermot Dempsey when he appeared before Swords District Court.

My thoughts on this case

Here we have yet again another victim of Cannabis prohibition befalling one of the most dangerous aspects of cannabis, getting caught with it.

A recent report by a joint committee on justice in its first recommendation acknowledged our current criminal justice approach to drug use is harmful and recommended a “health led approach is prioritised in both policy and practice”. Despite this acknowledgement of the harms of a criminal justice approach, we still continue with it, with judges inflicting needless harm on often vulnerable individuals in our society.

A criminal conviction for drug use is a life long sentence where the person is seen as less employable and unable to freely travel to places like the United States. As we move closer to a change here in Ireland’s drug policy around Cannabis the conversation needs to include a removal of criminal convictions for drug charges and the freeing of prisoners currently there for the same.

This case is just one of many currently on display in Irish media court pages, with the defendants full name, age and home address on show for all to see.

I will continue to highlight these cases here on the 420News blog while redacting the name and address of defendants. This will allow for the sharing of these news stories across social media platforms without the smearing of the individuals name and address across the internet for all to see.