A heroin user has denied planning to sell a large stash of drugs found at his bedsit and told a jury he was using it for his own programme to reduce his dependence.
Neil Densham was arrested when police smashed down the door of his flat above an Exeter pub and found with 19 grams of heroin, bags and scales.
He says he bought the drugs in bulk to save money after selling scrap metal and divided them into small bags so he could control and reduce his dosage before going into rehab.
Densham, aged 35, of Dryden Road, Exeter, denies possession of heroin with intent to supply at Exeter Crown Court.
Mr James Taghdissian, prosecuting, said police raided a flat above the Flying Horse pub in February last year and found Densham slumped on his bed and apparently under the influence of drugs.
Officers found a large bag of heroin, part of which had been divided into smaller quantities and packed into plastic wraps of the sort which are normally used for street dealing.
He said Densham was living on £70 a week disability benefit and would not have been able to have bought the drugs in bulk.
Father-of-two Densham said he had been an addict who was a heavy user of heroin at the time and was working with the drugs service to tackle his addiction.
He was due to start a course of residential rehabilitation at the Cedars Unit of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and was collaborating with his key worker to reduce his usage in the preceding weeks.
He told the jury he spent a week at the Cedars shortly after his arrest and has been using a substitute to heroin ever since.
He said at the time of his arrest he was using up to two grammes of heroin a day and had bought three quarters of an ounce a few days before his arrest, of which the drugs found on his dresser were the residue of what he had not used.
He said:"I bought it and paid £400 for it. I was on sickness benefit but I also sell scrap when I can get hold of it, mainly copper and brass. I do quite well at times.
"I was getting ready to go into the Cedars and was trying to move from injecting to smoking heroin because I had agreed with my key worker I needed to cut down what I used.
"The drugs I bought were in a package of cling film but I took some out and weighed it in smaller packages so I knew how much I was going to take. I had some I was going to take a breakfast, lunchtime and tea.
"I was not planning to sell the drugs. I was just preparing it for myself."
