Man was caught driving after smoking cannabis

A LLANELLI driver who got behind the wheel after smoking cannabis has been banned.

Matthew James Cooper was stopped by police on New Dock Road in the town on the afternoon of March 14.

He pleaded guilty at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court to driving while under the influence of the controlled drug, namely delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.

The court heard Cooper, aged 37, of Maengwynne, Llanelli, had 6.3 microgrammes of the drug per litre of blood, which exceeded the legal limit of two.

Prosecutor Matt Henson said: “A police officer saw a Renault Clio at 4.25pm travelling on New Dock Road. He had cause to stop the vehicle and the defendant was in the driving seat.

“He told the officer that he had recently smoked cannabis and a roadside test result was positive.”

Defence solicitor Steven John said: “My client pleaded guilty at the first possible opportunity and fully cooperated with police.

“He is on a suspended sentence order for another offence and this was a solitary blip during that period.”

The court heard how Cooper was set to undergo assessments for possible autism or Asperger’s which may go some way in explaining his behaviour.

Mr John added: “There could be a potential treatment plan in place soon as he has been using cannabis to calm his overall persona.

“He has always had a level of anxiety and the cannabis use is purely medicinal.

“However, he has been looking at alternatives and cannabis oil has been helping.

“He has been exploring legal ways to deal with things and his actual cannabis use has reduced drastically and he hopes to end it completely soon.”

Magistrates fined Cooper £120 for driving under influence of cannabis, disqualified him from driving for 12 months and told him to pay £85 court costs and a £30 victim surcharge.”

His suspended sentence for a previous offence was extended by six months.