A Whitland man found in possession of 42 grammes of cannabis in his van had been fined in court.
Forty-six-year-old Paul James Green, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday to plead guilty to a charge of being found in possession of the drugs on the A478 in Wooden on October 20.
Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that shortly before 1 pm that day a police officer carrying out routine observations on patrol, stopped Mr. Green who was driving a Ford transit van.
“The officer noticed a very string smell of cannabis emanating from the vehicle. When asked by the officer if he had any cannabis in his possession, Mr. Green initially said no, but upon being told the van would be searched, he pointed to a compartment in the vehicle where a safe was kept, and he handed the officer a small key to open it.
After the quantity of cannabis was found, Mr. Green then underwent a roadside drugs swipe to determine where he had been driving under the influence.
“The results of that test have not yet come back to the police, so Mr. Green may well come back to court again to be prosecuted if the test is found positive,” continued Mr. Pritchard-Jones.
“He told police that the cannabis was for his own personal use, and that he smoked it every day. He said that he’d bought it in one lump sum for £175 from an unknown person in Carmarthen.
“Mr. Green has one previous drugs conviction on record, but that goes back to 1993,” he added.
Defence solicitor David Elvy told the court that his client had previously suffered a crushed vertebrae and that he found smoking cannabis was useful in helping him deal with back pain.
Magistrates fined Mr. Green £100 for the offence and ordered him to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £32 victim surcharge.
A forfeiture and destruction order was also passed for the drugs.