A FIVEMILETOWN man caught with £1400-worth of cannabis earlier this year has avoided prison.
Police were making unrelated enquiries with Jason Andy Todd (31) at his Spout Walk home on April 23 and detected a strong odour of cannabis coming from the property.
The defendant himself was noted to be very pale and appeared to have smoked the drug recently, however he denied this when asked.
He was arrested and searched of the kitchen revealed a jar of herbal cannabis, a grinder and other associated items including dealing lists.
When cautioned for possessing cannabis Todd replied, “Aye, it’s mine.”
Further searches of the property located a white tub containing a large quantity of cannabis in a bedroom wardrobe.
Later during interview, he said he bought the drugs in a large amount which he then divided into smaller amounts for use each month.
While he accepted ownership of the cannabis he denied dealing or intending to supply.
The value of seized drugs was estimated to be £1400.At Dungannon Magistrates Court a defence barrister conceded the amount was “substantial”.
The defendant, “Fully cooperated with police and tried to assist, albeit there was some minimisation and denial initially. He refers to this (drug use) as a dependency rather than an addiction and at the tie was using cannabis on an almost daily basis to cope with symptoms of anxiety and depression.”
District Judge Michael Ranaghan told Todd, “I will deal with this by way of an order to try to address any ongoing issues you have with either dependency or addiction.”
He imposed a Probation Order for 18 months and the seized drugs and other items are to be destroyed.
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