Just under two years after graduating from his nursing degree course with distinctions and a high distinction on his academic record, and having cared for drug addicts, Michael Stephen Wood was forced to face up to his own drugs crisis.

In 2016, he was caught three times driving with an illicit drug in his system.

The charges were a “harbinger” of things to come, Judge Phillip Mahony SC said on Tuesday.

On August 26, Wood was pulled over by police in Glenfield Park and when they questioned him he volunteered he had some “gas” – methamphetamine (speed) – in the car.

Police found not only 20.04 grams of speed, but also 11.9g of ice.

Wood pleaded guilty to two counts of (deemed) supply of a prohibited drug.

Giving evidence in the witness box on Tuesday, 30-year-old Wood said he bought the drugs in bulk for his use and to share with his partner at the time because it was cheaper. “I could not afford to buy it in lesser amounts; it is not cheap, it is expensive,” Wood said.

The court heard Wood first used cannabis as a nine-year-old boy and when he was 15 he was a regular user of the drug. He said he started using ice in 2013 – one or two points at a time – but in the six months before his arrest he was using up to one ounce a day.

Wood said he felt “mixed emotions” when he was arrested.

He said it was embarrassing and he felt upset about the impact on loved ones.

“At the same time, it was very much a … massive weight had been taken off my shoulders. I could come clean and get help for what I had been doing behind closed doors.”

The court heard Wood spent four months in residential rehabilitation between last September and January.

In her sentencing submission, Office of Director of Public Prosecutions solicitor Jessica Dawson argued there was no alternative to a custodial penalty for Wood.

Wood’s barrister, Jack Tyler-Stott, put to Judge Mahony the drugs found on his client were not for financial reward, but only for Wood and his partner.

Judge Mahony indicated he would sentence Wood to an 18-month intensive correction order and adjourned formal sentencing to Sydney District Court on July 27.