A DRUG driver who smoked cannabis to ease his Tourette's and ADHD was caught on the M5 near Worcester because he was not wearing his seatbelt.

Nathan Fisher was heading south between junction 7 (Worcester South) and 8 (Strensham) in his Mercedes van when he was stopped by police.

The 29-year-old admitted drug driving when he appeared before Worcester magistrates on Thursday after he was pulled over on March 12 this year.

A drugs test revealed a metabolite of cannabis in his system - 11 micrograms of Tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood (more than five times the limit of 2 micrograms).

Liz Blacklock, prosecuting, said: "They could see he was not wearing a seatbelt so he was stopped. They could smell cannabis coming from within the car."

A roadside swipe test was positive for cannabis so he was taken to Worcester Police Station where the evidential sample was obtained.

Fisher had no previous convictions. The prosecution identified no aggravating features.

Andrew Wakeman, defending, asked that Fisher be given full credit for his early guilty plea. "He was fully co-operative both with police both at the roadside and when he was taken to Worcester Police Station and the blood sample was taken from him. It's clear there was no poor driving on behalf of Mr Fisher.

"The reason they pulled him over was, as they were overtaking the vehicle, they could see Mr Fisher was not wearing a seatbelt."

Mr Wakeman explained that Fisher had stopped to take medication and 'had forgotten to put his seatbelt back on'. The solicitor said Fisher had been smoking cannabis for medicinal purposes as he suffered from both Tourette's Syndrome and ADHD and had been on medication for some nine to 10 years. Smoking of cannabis eased his client's health problems said Mr Wakeman when one medication counteracted the effect of the other.

Fisher of New Street, Southowram had since taken steps to wean himself off cannabis and is not now smoking at all, the court was told.

Magistrates banned Fisher from driving for 12 months, fined him £120 and ordered him to pay costs of £135 and a victim surcharge of £34.

A fines collection order was made, giving the court extra powers to recover the money.