A driver caught with cannabis in his car said he smoked eight joints a day to cope with caring for his mother.
Adil Mahmood was driving along Dale Lane in Heckmondwike at 3pm on May 15 when he caught the attention of police.
Prosecutor Vanessa Jones told Kirklees magistrates that when the officers went to speak with the 26-year-old he appeared furtive and they could smell cannabis coming from the Vauxhall Astra.
They searched the vehicle and found 13 small polythene bags containing cannabis stashed over the driver’s seat.
Mahmood, of Lascelles Road in Heckmondwike, pleaded guilty to possession of the Class B drug.
He said that it was for his use and he smoked eight joints a day.
Andy Day, mitigating, explained that his client is the sole carer for his mother and uses cannabis as a crutch.
He told magistrates: “He finds looking after his mother stressful and unwisely he falls back on cannabis as a way of winding down to relieve that stress.
“That quantity of cannabis might have lasted him a day and it had not been secreted very well.”
Magistrates fined Mahmood £80 and told him to pay £85 court costs plus £30 victim surcharge.
The cannabis will be forfeited and destroyed.
