A software developer took cocaine to help him redecorate after a bad night’s sleep – then drove to the shops for dog food.
Christian Nilssen had started using the drug during lockdown when struggling with his mental health.
But the 48-year-old, who hadn’t slept well prior to a planned day of DIY, discovered he still had some cocaine left over and decided to take it.
Later, after realising he was all out of dog food, he opted to drive to the shops and was pulled over on the A92 at School Wynd, Inverbervie.
‘He still had the remnants of cocaine from lockdown days’
Fiscal depute Tom Procter told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 5pm on September 11 last year.
Officers on patrol stopped Nilssen’s van and, concerned by his demeanour, carried out a drugs test which came back positive for a metabolite of cocaine.
Nilssen, of Burnside Cottages, Catterline, pled guilty to driving with 158 microgrammes of Benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite, per litre of blood. The legal limit is 50 microgrammes.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said it had been “some time” between his client taking the drug and driving, and that the metabolite remains in the bloodstream for longer.
He said: “During lockdown, he became somewhat depressed and sought refuge in cocaine.
“He tells me, on the day in question, he’d undertaken to do some home decorating.
“He had not slept well and found he still had the remnants of cocaine from lockdown days which, stupidly, he took.”
Mr Kelly explained Nilssen thought the drug would have left his system when he realised he’d run out of dog food for a friend’s pet he was looking after.
He said: “He decided to drive the short distance to Inverbervie and was stopped by the police.”
Sheriff Eric Brown fined Nilssen £520 and banned him from driving for a year.
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