{"id":451043,"date":"2026-05-15T23:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451043\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T23:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:48:09","slug":"limerick-man-caught-with-drugs-has-views-on-the-legalisation-of-cannabis-court-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451043\/","title":{"rendered":"Limerick man caught with drugs has views on the legalisation of cannabis, court hears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A MAN who was charged with possessing unlawful drugs for the purpose of sale or supply told his probation officer that he supports drug legalisation.<\/p>\n<p>Aaron O\u2019Keefe, 28, with an address at New Road, Thomondgate, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Limerick<\/a>, was charged with possessing controlled drugs for unlawful sale or supply at the Shannabooly Road, Ballynanty on January 20, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Solicitor Sarah Ryan said that Mr O\u2019Keefe\u2019s Probation Report details that he\u2019s at a low risk of reoffending.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.limerickleader.ie\/news\/crime-and-courts\/2081636\/limerick-man-with-considerable-cv-tells-judge-it-s-great-to-see-you.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Limerick man with &#8216;considerable CV&#8217; tells judge &#8216;it&#8217;s great to see you&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At Limerick District Court, Judge Patricia Harney said Mr O\u2019Keefe is still using cannabis, and that the report stated the man \u201copenly shares his views on the legalisation of cannabis\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The judge said he\u2019s charged with over \u20ac1,000 worth of cannabis for sale or supply.<\/p>\n<p>She commented: \u201cWe can take it from his attitude that he\u2019s still using cannabis and he has no plans of stopping\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The court heard that Mr O\u2019Keefe has no previous convictions.<\/p>\n<p>The judge told the man \u201cIf you persist in doing this I will give you a suspended sentence\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are responsible for some of the problem that plagues Limerick society\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can send you to prison,\u201d she warned him.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Harney convicted and sentenced Mr O\u2019Keefe to three months\u2019 imprisonment, which was suspended for eight months.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecuting Sergeant Denis Waters made an application for the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs, which Judge Harney granted.<\/p>\n<p>Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT &#8211; CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A MAN who was charged with possessing unlawful drugs for the purpose of sale or supply told his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,61,60,1396,44,7250,43,47264],"class_list":["post-451043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick","tag-limerick-city","tag-limerick-district-court","tag-news","tag-thomondgate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}