A Donegal Judge spared a conviction for the possession of drugs after a man outlined to court how he was prescribed cannabis by a doctor in London.
Emmet Rudd was before Judge Ciaran Liddy (pictured above) Ballyshannon District Court charged with the unlawful possession of cannabis.
After reviewing documentation provided by Mr Rudd and hearing the defendant give evidence, Judge Ciaran Liddy struck out the charge.
Garda Paul White gave evidence of stopping a grey Toyota Yaris with three males on board at 10.40am on April 11, 2023 at Sminver, Ballyshannon.
There was a strong smell of cannabis in the vehicle and gardai located a blue jacket in which there were two white containers, each bearing Mr Rudd’s name. Cannabis to the value of approximately €30 was in each container.
Mr Rudd was cautioned told gardai that the containers were holding medicinal cannabis. He said they were obtained from a doctor and that they were from his own use.
Mr Frank Murphy, solicitor for Rudd, handed in a letter to the court which listed Mr Rudd’s medical condition and which showed that he was to take .3 of a gram of the product each day.
The product was sourced from Intego, a London-based ‘cannabis specialist clinic’, who say they provide ‘private medical cannabis treatment by expert clinicians’. The company confirmed, in a letter shown to the court, that Mr Rudd is under their direct care.
Mr Murphy said his client, a 22-year-old of Argyle Street, Derry, was not attempting to conceal the cannabis and he had a letter ‘as a valid prescription’.
“He has done everything right where he lives,” Mr Murphy said. “There is a scheme that if he lived in the Republic of Ireland he would be covered for medicinal cannabis.”
“It was the most legal form of illegality,” Mr Murphy said. “He done everything to the letter of the law. He thought that he was covered to travel outside his jurisdiction and he took all the relevant advices.
“He done everything in his ability to travel lawfully with a controlled substance. This was a valid, legal service that he was availing of.”
Garda Inspector Seamus McGonagle told the court that he was ‘not sure’ about the letter which was provided in court and there was a dispute between Mr Rudd and the gardai on whether or not he had shown the officers the document when initially stopped.
Mr Murphy said that a scheme is in place in Ireland, which enabled some people to carry cannabis if it was for medicinal purposes, but the product had to be under prescription in this State.
The Medical Cannabis Access Programme was signed into legislation in 2019 on a pilot basis for five years.
The Medical Cannabis Access Programme make it possible for a medical consultant to prescribe a cannabis-based treatment for a patient under his or her care for the following medical conditions, where the patient has failed to respond to standard treatments: Spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis; intractable nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy; and severe, refractory (treatment-resistant) epilepsy.
Mr Rudd took to the witness box and said his own doctor put him in touch with the company, who he has an online check-up with every three months.
He said the medicinal cannabis is posted directly to his house in Derry ‘and comes in a proper prescription bag’.
Mr Rudd told Judge Liddy that he suffers from bad anxiety and depression and this is a favoured form of treatment ‘so I don’t have to take tablets’.
He told the Judge that he has travelled to France and England ‘and had no bother in airports’.
“At all times, I thought that I was above board.” Mr Rudd said.
Judge Ciaran Liddy said he found the facts proven and struck the matter out.