Had€ 1200worth of drugs in home
Gardaí discovered € 1200 worth of drugs when they searched a house in Culleens, Enniscrone, Sligo District Court was told. Nicholas Stevens ( 36) of Lord Edward St, Ballina, was charged with possession of PVP for sale or supply, possession of PVP and also possession of cannabis on August 19th 2015. Inspector Paul Kilcoyne said gardaí went to the defendant’s house with a warrant to carry out a search.
They found two bags of suspected cocaine and also suspected cannabis. A weighing scales and two phones were also found. The defendant was subsequently arrested and made full admissions. The drugs value was € 1200. PVP is a synthetic head shop drug, he informed the court. The defendant had 42 previous convictions, the last one dating back to 2003 for the misuse of drugs. Defending solicitor, Mr Mark Mullaney said his client did have previous convictions for both possession and possession with the intent to supply. “It would be fair to say he co- operated with gardaí and did admit he purchased the herbal drugs for his own addiction and there was an intention to sell part of them. He was getting money to feed his own addiction. This is a man who has health difficulties and addiction difficulties,” he added. The defendant began self medicating following an accident and began abusing illegal substances and alcohol. “He has been conviction free for 13 years and fell off the wagon in 2015. He regrets it. He’s the father of six children and concerned about being in court after such a long period. He’s prepared to do work in the community,” Mr Mullaney said.
The judge said the head shop drugs were a concern as he knows little about it. Mr Mullaney said he carried out research into PVP and it’s a synthetic type of drug that causes a state of excited delirium. The judge then queried why his client would want to be in a state of excited delirium and Mr Mullaney replied he couldn’t say why people take these type of drugs. Stevens told the judge he suffered with severe back pain and when taking painkillers for this another habit formed for other herbal drugs. The judge said he needed to know more of what’s going on with the defendant and put the case back to January in order to have a Probation Report prepared.