By Natasha Reid
A woman whose drug-addicted mother gave her methadone as a treat when she was 12 years old has been given a suspended sentence for storing drugs for sale in the home she shared with her own children decades later.
The 44-year-old, who is not being named to protect the identity of her children, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court having pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply on 16th January 2023 at her Dublin home.
The arresting garda testified that he and a colleague arrived with a warrant to search the woman’s home that day. She wasn’t there, but her son, a minor, told them that there was ‘stuff downstairs, weed.’
He was there with his little brother and sister and said that the drugs were not his.
The woman returned home and was asked what was in the house. She replied that there was weed and her own methadone.
The cannabis was recovered, along with plastic bagging and two sets of electronic scales. The drugs were valued at somewhere between €12,000 and €14,000.
The court heard that she had 12 previous convictions, including three for the possession of drugs for sale or supply, but that these convictions dated back more than 20 years.
“I think she was holding them for someone else,” said Gda Dooley. “To be fair, I think she was under pressure. I don’t think she was dealing it.”
The woman’s barrister told the court that both of her parents had been addicted to heroin and that both had HIV and died young.
He said that she began using methadone at the age of 12.
“Her mother gave her methadone as a treat for cleaning the house,” he explained. “She has remained on that throughout her life.”
He said that she later became homeless and addicted to heroin herself, as well as contracting HIV.
He said that she has four children and that ‘the generational cycle has continued,’ with her older children now being addicted and having mental health difficulties.
However, she’s now clean of everything bar methadone, he explained.
Judge Martin Nolan imposed a three-year term of imprisonment but suspended it in full.