A man who suffers from epilepsy and regularly smokes cannabis as a means of reducing his seizures, this week found himself in court charged with possessing an illegal drug.

Pleading guilty to the offence before Haverfordwest magistrates this week was Martin Rees, 28, of Silverdale Lodge, Johnston.

MORE NEWS

The court heard how, during a visit to the home of Rees’s ex-partner, police had a strong smell of cannabis.

Rees subsequently produced two large bags containing what Crown Prosecutor Linda Baker referred to as ‘a green leafy substance’.

It turned out to be 82.1 grammes of cannabis, which had a street value of £820.

Rees was represented in court by Mr Peter Tarr, who said his client uses the cannabis as a form of self-medication.

“Before he started using the cannabis, he was having around 50 seizures a day which sometimes resulted in him being hospitalised,” said Mr Tarr.

“But after he started taking the cannabis, this dropped to around one seizure a year, which is a dramatic drop. But it’s against the law all the same.”

For the offence Rees was fined £80 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £34 surcharge.  A forfeiture and destruction order was also imposed on the cannabis.