Cannabis to help dying mum

And his sister bought Diazepam tablets from a website to cope with her mother’s illness and her grief after her death.

Shantelle Gibson (19), Langfield Rise, Craigavon, admitted unlawful possession of a class C drug, Diazepam, on November 10, 2014, and having it with intent to supply.

For the possession charge she was fined £75 and for the supplying charge she was fined £150. She was also ordered to pay a £15 offender’s levy.

Nathan Anthony Gibson (20), Lisnisky Lodge, Portadown, admitted cultivating a cannabis plant on November 10, 2014. He was sentenced to 180 hours community service.

The court heard that on November 10, 2014, police carried out a search at Moyraverty Court in Craigavon and found 0.5 grams of herbal cannabis, valued at £10, on a kitchen table. There was a cannabis plant, worth about £500, on a window sill in the home.

Ten Diazepam tablets worth £5 were found while 17 strips of Diazepam tablets, worth £85, were discovered behind a picture on the upstairs hallway.

When interviewed Nathan Gibson said he owned the plant and had wanted to get oil from it for his mother who was now deceased. Shantelle Gibson admitted owning the Diazepam and said she bought it from a website. It was mostly for herself but she sometimes sold to her brother.

A barrister representing Nathan Gibson said his client had cultivated the plant to get oil to try and help his mother who was in the late stages of cancer. A barrister representing Shantelle Gibson said she talked herself into the supplying charge when she said she had sold Diazepam to her brother.

District Judge, Mr Mervyn Bates, told Nathan Gibson that while he thought he was helping with a medical condition it did not make it legal and that he had continued to hold on to the cannabis plant.