Thurso driver 'stupidly' turned to self-medicating with street cannabis
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A driver turned to cannabis to ease the pain from a medical condition but was found to be over the drug-driving limit when stopped by the police.
Darren Taylor (48) pleaded guilty and was fined £180 and banned from driving for a year by Sheriff Krista Johnson, who took the explanation into account.
Wick Sheriff Court was told on Thursday that, initially, the police were dealing with a motorist on Berriedale Braes, on June 14, last year.
Fiscal David Barclay said that officers got the whiff of cannabis from a van parked nearby.
He continued: "They noted that the smell disappeared when the van driver drove off. Once the police concluded their business with the car driver, they followed the accused’s van and stopped it.”
A drug swipe produced a positive result and a blood sample taken for analysis revealed a reading of 7 micrograms for the cannabis-based drug Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, more than three times the legal limit of 2 micrograms.
Solicitor Josey Donnachie told the court that Taylor, a factory worker, of Thorfinn Terrace, Thurso, suffered from a chronic pancreatic complaint for which he took prescribed medication. However, his condition improved and he was taken off the drug.
Miss Donachie continued: “Unfortunately, the pain returned. Taylor found it hard to get a doctor’s appointment during the Covid pandemic and stupidly turned to self-medicating with street cannabis. He has now returned to his doctor and is back on his prescribed medication.”
The solicitor added: “The accused realises that self-medicating was not the appropriate action to have taken and apologises for having done so, but it is a mitigating factor in his defence.”
Sheriff Johnson commented that Taylor’s record of previous offending might suggest “a cavalier approach to driving” but accepted that there were no associated bad driving elements in his latest offence.
The sheriff took into account that Taylor’s use of cannabis related directly to the pain he was suffering.
She also took into consideration the accused’s financial obligations to his family.
