A CANCER sufferer who makes his own cannabis oil to relieve his pain faced no further punishment after police found three bags of the class B drug in his car.

Barish Kemal, 44, was stopped in Colchester in January last year after police spotting his vehicle being driven “slightly erratically”.

Ipswich Crown Court heard the vehicle was searched when officers smelled cannabis, finding three large bags of cannabis.

Police searched Kemal’s home, in Gascoigne Road, Colchester, finding a small amount of cannabis.

Kemal denied a charge of possession of cannabis with intent to supply, admitting two counts of possession of cannabis.

The pleas were acceptable to the Crown Prosecution Service, so Recorder Graham Huston directed he be cleared of the intent to supply charge.

Simon Gladwell, mitigating, said Kemal had been using the drug to produce a cannabis oil, taking three doses a day to selfmedicate after a cancer diagnosis.

He said his client faced a number of health problems, the most prominent being Hodgkin lymphoma, which causes him significant pain.

The court heard Kemal had undertaken a course of chemotherapy in 2013.

Mr Gladwell said: “He says the pain is so great that he has been given prescription drugs, but they have side effects.

“He says producing and taking this oil doesn’t result in any side effects but does relieve the pain he suffers.”

Mr Gladwell said his client had been jailed for 14 weeks after he was arrested for driving while disqualified on the same day as the cannabis offences, in January 2020.

The court heard Kemal has two previous convictions for cannabis possession offences.

Mr Huston imposed a 12-month conditional discharge, meaning Kemal will face no further punishment if he commits no further offences in the next year.

He said: “It’s accepted the purpose of your acquiring this cannabis was to convert it into oil, with which you obtain a way of self-medicating.

“You found it helps, but you do so knowing it is against the law.

“You do have some previous convictions going back some time.

“It seems to me there is no need for you to be made the subject of requirements under a community sentence order.”

Kemal must pay £145 in prosecution costs.

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