In this case which was heard at Tallaght district court earlier in the week involving a 50 year old mother of 3 who I will not be naming in this article. This mother was caught with 6 plants in her home which she said she was growing to help with the symptoms of her arthritis. Tallaght District Court heard a search was carried out at the accused’s address on July 26, 2020 and six cannabis plants worth €800 each were found. 1 of the plants was in a mature state at the time of the drugs raid and 5 of them were in early stages of growth, she told Gardaí that she was growing the Cannabis for her own personal use as a medicine for her arthritis and for sleep. The Gardaí showed no sympathy, taking the plants and valued the haul at €4800. In court the Gardaí said they were satisfied she was not selling Cannabis. The woman had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty to cultivation of Cannabis without a license.

Despite the circumstance the mum of 3 was told by judge Patricia McNamara that she was fortunate that she had accepted jurisdiction to keep the case in the district court. Then pointing out how the 50 year old mother of 3 could’ve received a maximum sentence of 14 years should she of been sent to the circuit court.

The judge also went on to say

“There is a reason cannabis is illegal, it’s not good for your health & you’re probably addicted to it”.

I think this statement by the judge needs to be really examined and I hope the woman being prosecuted follows up on it but its very interesting presently given all the conversation in the media about misinformation. If Joe Rogan needs to be held to account for misinformation on his podcast surely our judges need to be held to account for the information in which they spread from our courts. For when a judge says something in the court this is then recorded and reported in the media. Many people who then read these reports in the media and see these statements from judges believe them to be factual. However the statement above is far from factual, it’s very misleading and its very stigmatising to a rather large population of people in Ireland.

“There is a reason why Cannabis is illegal”

So why is Cannabis illegal judge McNamara? If we look at the archived debates held back in 1975 on the drafting of the misuse of drugs act we can see that Cannabis was not made illegal because of physical harms to the consumers but due to “social values”. Lets take a second to remember that in Ireland at this time the state was practically ruled by the church , condoms were illegal and so was being in a homosexual relationship. The only reason condoms and gay relationships were prohibited was again because of the social values at the time. We have since overturned these silly prohibitions and the next one to go will be Cannabis prohibition.

“It’s (cannabis) not good for your health.

We see here the misinformation being given by the judge about Cannabis. Cannabis has a potential to do harm this I wont deny but to say its not good for your health is just incorrect. In the case of the mother caught with the plants which she was growing for her arthritis, she came with a report from her Dr. that stated the woman was benefiting from her Cannabis use but she was not prescribed it. The woman was not prescribed it due to the crazy and inhumane system in place to access Cannabis in Ireland where a person’s GP cannot apply for a license without a consultant. We also have Ava Barry daughter of Vera Twomey who possibly would not be alive today without Cannabis to help with her Dravet syndrome(form of epilepsy). We also have Ryan Fowler who is prescribed his Cannabis to help with the pain associated with his Sarcoma Cancer in his shoulder. Ryan is doing really well thanks to his Cannabis prescription but unfortunately he might not have access to it for much longer as the family are financially crippled after funding his medicine for the last 3 years privately.

So while this judge would argue that Cannabis is not good for your health Ireland has a growing number of people who can prove her wrong.

“You’re probably addicted to it(cannabis)”

This is coming from a judge who has zero qualification to determine if a person is addicted to a substance but that didn’t stop her from doing it anyway. I would imagine that was a very hurtful thing for a patient to hear about themselves and the woman was probably questioning herself after the case.

Even if this woman was addicted to Cannabis is it right that a judge would rub that in a persons face in court?

This is just another prime example as to how its OK to discriminate against people who use Cannabis or other illicit substances. Not only does it happen in the courts , its present in printed media and on the radio airwaves too. Words like junkie and druggie are easily thrown around and not many people would call out a person for using such terms but I reckon in the not too distant future these words will be seen in the same light as fag, faggot, poof, and poofter.

If you want to hear from a real addiction specialist who is honest about drugs and drug addiction then check out my interview with Dr. Garrett McGovern.

Judge Patricia McNamara was told how the defendant had been working as receptionist which she had to stop due to the arthritis leaving her uncomfortable and in pain. The judge was also told the woman has stopped growing Cannabis and now accepted it was illegal.

The judge said it was an “awful lot” of cannabis and adjourned the case for a probation report and assessment for community service suitability. She also told the accused to take a drugs awareness course.

How long more are we going to see patients using cannabis to treat the symptoms of their condition get criminalised in Irish courts.