Thurso driver caught over drug limit 'used cannabis to ease pain' after dislocating collar bone
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A young Thurso man turned to cannabis to ease the pain from a shoulder complaint, it was claimed in court this week.
But a blood sample taken by police officers who stopped him revealed Louis Chubb was well over the drug-driving limit, Wick Sheriff Court was told on Wednesday.
Chubb (21) pleaded guilty and was fined £400, as well as being banned from driving for a year.
The police received ‘intelligence’ shortly after 9pm on October 7, last year, that the accused may have consumed cannabis before driving and they stopped him in East Church Street, Thurso.
Fiscal David Barclay said that Chubb displayed signs of drug use and an initial sample taken confirmed this.
A blood sample taken later revealed the exact amount of the cannabis-based drug Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in his system, 5.1mcg – more than twice the legal limit of 2mcg.
Solicitor Fiona MacDonald highlighted the motive behind the offence.
She said that Chubb, of Holborn Avenue, Pennyland, Thurso, had suffered a dislocated collar bone but there was a delay in him receiving surgery.
She added: “He used cannabis to self-medicate in the interval. The reading is consistent with the use of the drug for medical purposes.”
