DPP drops charge over €2.5m of ecstasy

The State has dropped a charge of possession of €2.5m worth of ecstasy against a man in light of last week’s Court of Appeal ruling.

The accused, who was also found with a similar amount of cannabis, had pleaded guilty to possessing more than 250,000 ecstasy tablets for sale or supply in 2013.

Yesterday, counsel for the DPP asked the court to withdraw the ecstasy charge and proceed solely on the cannabis counts. Tony McGillicuddy, prosecuting, said the move was due to the “Bederev judgment” in which the appeal court issued a ruling that ecstasy and other drugs were unconstitutionally banned.