‘I don’t know it as cannabis, I know it as African tobacco weed’

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but cannabis by any other name might not be illegal — no matter how it smells.

Whether one calls a green herbal substance cannabis or “African tobacco weed” proved crucial at a hearing in Cork District Court yesterday.

Joao Geraldo was not even present in court for the case against him, where he was charged with being in possession of cannabis for his own use.