TAXI driver Paul White would often be asked by customers where they could buy recreational drugs – so he decided to start selling them himself, it was claimed.
White, 54, was arrested three times after he was found with amphetamine.
On the third occasion he had a quantity valued at about £3,000.
White, of Oak Drive in Wrexham, admitted two charges of possessing drugs with intent to supply and one charge of possessing the drugs for his own personal use - for pain relief.
But he escaped an immediate prison sentence at Mold Crown Court.
Judge, Mr Recorder Robert Britton, gave him a 50 week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
He was sent on a six-month drug rehabilitation course and must submit to twice weekly drug testing.
The judge ordered him to attend 26 sessions of an offender substance abuse programme run by the probation service and he was placed on 18 months supervision.
The judge, who said he took into account his age, his poor health and his guilty pleas, warned if he re-offended he would be jailed.
Now a financial hearing under The Proceeds of Crime Act will be held to see how much money, if any, can be seized from him.
But his barrister Phillip Tully stressed his client had not actually supplied any drugs.
The drugs recovered when first arrested had been for his own use.
He accepted he had intended to supply some of the drugs recovered on his subsequent arrests.
“This was a period of madness in his life which is now behind him,” said Mr Tully.
