A man caught with a kilo of cannabis worth up to £14,995 told police he ordered it online.
Michael Hamill also insisted the class B drugs were for his own use and said scales that were found at his home were to check that he hadn’t been ripped off.
But appearing at Inverness Sheriff Court this week, Hamill admitted a single charge of possessing cannabis with intent to supply.
Fiscal depute Susan Love told the court that at around 4pm on May 11 2022 police executed a drugs search warrant at Hamill’s Caledonian Road home in Inverness.
Search recovered kilo of cannabis
Hamill, 32, was not at the property as the search recovered herbal material later confirmed to be 1065 grams of cannabis.
Officers also found scales, a grinder and bags.
Hamill was later traced in a retail park car park in Aviemore.
When interviewed he told police that the class B drugs were for his own use and claimed he had “sourced it online from Canada and the US”.
He told officers that he “used scales to weigh it so he didn’t get bumped” and that he “used the heat sealer to seal it to prevent his family from smelling it”.
The prosecutor told Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald that the drugs had an estimated value of between £8,670 and £14,995.
Defence agent Shahid Latif told the court that his client had experienced adversity in his childhood and had previously used alcohol as an adult, which had led to offending.
Inverness man’s drug ‘vice’
After an associate had recommended Hamill stop using alcohol, he had turned to cannabis. Mr Latif said his client had not offended in a number of years.
He said his Hamill was using three to 3.5 grams of the drug every day and invited Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald to consider placing Hamill on a drug treatment and testing order.
He said: “Use of drugs is a vice – he is not yet clear of it.”
Sheriff MacDonald deferred sentencing for a criminal justice social work report to be produced, along with an assessment of suitability for a drug treatment and testing order.
But she told Hamill: “This was over a kilo’s worth of cannabis – it is a significant amount which often merits a custodial sentence.”
The case will call again next month.
