Nenagh court hears man grew cannabis without the 'high' for medicinal purposes

A man who was caught cultivating cannabis was growing the drug for medicinal purposes, Nenagh District Court was told.

Norbert Besenyei of Flat 2, Ryan’s Flats, Rosemary Street, Roscrea, was charged with the offence at Rosemary Street on February 13, 2021. He was also charged with possession of cannabis on the same occasion.

The court was told the gardaí found 14 cannabis plants during a search, with a street value of €6,400.

However, Mr Besenyei’s solicitor, David Peters, disputed the value.

He said that his client was a Hungarian national who had been living here for the past eight years and was on disability allowance.

The reason why Mr Besenyei was cultivating the plants was medicinal because of a heart problem and the plants did not contain THC.

“They were deliberately cultivated so as not to give you a high,” he said. “Nobody is going to buy cannabis if you don’t get a high off it.”

Mr Besenyei had to attend hospital after the search for stress, said Mr Peters.

His client now understood cannabis was illegal here.

Sgt Regina McCarthy told the court that the forensic laboratory did not analyse samples for THC. The charge was cultivation, she said.

Judge Elizabeth MacGrath fined Mr Besenyei €300 for cultivating the cannabis plants and took the charge of possession of cannabis into consideration.