Dunedin District Court

A MAN who selfmedicated his ADHD with cannabis was stocking up ahead of Christmas in organised fashion, when police searched his house, his lawyer says.

Shannon John Berryman (29), of Dunedin, was caught with 85g of cannabis plant in his bedroom on November 22.

He appeared for sentence before Judge Michael Crosbie in the Dunedin District Court yesterday.

Defence counsel Louise Garthwaite said Berryman had only one other cannabisrelated conviction and he was currently in the secondlongest stretch of time he had been out of jail for his adult life.

Berryman was the subject of police manhunts in 2012 and 2014, and was found hiding in an Oamaru ceiling after evading authorities for several weeks in 2012.

Police prosecutor Detective Hamish Barrons said Berryman told police he used cannabis every day, to help him deal with his condition.

Ms Garthwaite said her client had told her the cannabis was for the holiday period, when prices went up.

‘‘He effectively got himself organised before the Christmas period.’’

Berryman said in court that cannabis ‘‘makes me like everyone else’’ and without it he would be ‘‘bouncing off the walls’’.

Judge Crosbie said Berryman had ‘‘made a choice that doesn’t involved prescribed medication’’.

‘‘In a roundabout way, I accept that you are trying to keep yourself off the radar,’’ he said.

He sentenced Berryman to 40 hours’ community work for cannabis possession, in addition to a sentence he was carrying out.