Court accepts Gordon Dow had £1,500 of cannabis for ‘personal use’

Gordon Dow’s haul could have netted him up to £3,600 in street deals, but prosecutors accepted his claim that some of the drug was only for his personal use.

The 32-year-old, of Vanguard Street, was sentenced at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Friday.

He had originally been charged with two offences – producing a controlled drug, and possession with intent to supply – but the Crown accepted his plea of not guilty to the first of those charges.

Fiscal depute Emma Thomson said: “On March 22, 2018, police obtained a warrant, and at 1.40pm on that date they attended the locus and gained entry by forcing the door.

“The accused was in the property sleeping with his partner. The warrant was shown to him and he was cautioned at common law.

“A search found 360 grams of cannabis. This had a value of approximately £1,500.

“Sub-divided it would have had the potential to realise £3,600, but the Crown accepts some would have been for personal use.

“There was no tick list, or scales, or anything of that nature found within the property.”

Sentence on Dow had been deferred until Friday to allow social workers time to prepare a background report on him.

Dow’s solicitor, Ian McCarthy, said: “The report is a full one and a favourable one. His previous convictions are of some age and are not analogous to the present matter.

“There are issues around his mental health and his use of cannabis.”

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Sheriff William Gallacher replied: “Those two things are not unconnected. The solution to self-medicate mental health by using cannabis is wrong on so many levels.”

Addressing Dow directly, the sheriff said: “Had you a past history [of drug-related offences] I would have felt it necessary to impose a custodial sentence.”

Instead he placed Dow on a community payback order which will see him supervised by social workers for 12 months, and ordered him to do100 hours of unpaid work by the end of November as a punishment.