Judge Marie Keane gives mother of 21 year old man caught with a cannabis grinder no choice but to pay €100 drug donation to court charity box for the guide dogs
This is a case coming out of Longford where a man was caught at the train station with a cannabis grinder after the Gardaí had detected the smell of cannabis coming from the man.
To me or you this grinder is pretty much empty but to Gardaí its enough to bring you to court and ruin your life!!!
The Garda sergeant Enda Daly first approached the man after seeing him drinking a can of beer but when they got near to him apparently the smell of cannabis was obvious. Its possible that the man had just finished consuming his cannabis and that’s why the smell was in the air. The court report makes no indication as to how much cannabis was in the grinder but I’m assuming it was empty. At least empty to me or you but to the Gardaí it had the traces of cannabis present and that’s all they really need to bring you to court.
I learned that the hard way myself after Gardaí brought me to court over traces in a bag in the car. I later lost my license to drive for 1 year over these traces of cannabis in the baggy. The judge said it was to teach me a lesson while ignoring the fact I was then a Dad to 2 kids (now 3) and a full time student who needed the use of a car. It was my kids who he punished not me. As a result of the driving ban I had to leave for college earlier and get home later resulting in less time for me with my kids. An entire summer where I couldn’t bring my kids on a trip to the beach. So many things became a lot more difficult for me but the real people being punished were always my kids.
In the case from Longford it’s the mans mother who is being punished for the “crime” of her son. Judge Marie Keane ordered for €100 be paid to the Guide Dogs charity. The man in this case was unable to pay it so his mother paid it for him. When the judge heard of this she remarked “the mothers of Ireland, again”. The case was to be struck out once the money had been paid.
Its not much of a choice for the mother really is it, pay the €100 or watch her son get punished. Its not much of a choice no good parent wants to watch their kids suffer like that. This is very similar to how drug gangs operate when collecting drug debts except their threat against the son would include violence while the courts threat is incarceration and a lifetime label as a drug criminal.
This is how broken the justice system currently is when trying to enforce the prohibition of drugs. For a very long time we have the state extorting money from families for drug crimes while the criminals are extorting them for drug debts . I myself have paid over €2500 in donations to the charity court box over the years for personal cannabis possession. I was ordered to pay in sums ranging from €225 up to €400 and the cannabis I was caught with ranged from less than €5 up to €50. I see that €2500+ as opportunity that was taken away from my family.
On one occasion I was order to pay €400 and it killed me paying it as it was money I had saved for my daughters birthday party. I later had to get a loan and still gave her a great birthday party but that really hurt handing over that money but again what choice did I have at the time because if I didn’t pay the money I was getting a criminal conviction for the rest of my life. Now I have a criminal conviction for Cannabis so that fear the system once had over me is gone. I still suffer with the stigma that comes with being labelled a criminal but I am committed to see an end to court cases like these.