Seamstress charged for marijuana

Adriana James was reduced to tears after she was sentenced to pay $400 in one week for marijuana possession or spend three weeks behind bars.

James, a seamstress of Arnos Vale, appeared in the Serious Crimes Court on Monday before Acting Chief Magistrate, Sharda Sinanan-Bollers and pled guilty to having 94 grams of cannabis in her possession with intent to supply.{{more}}

Reports indicated that on Sunday October 7 members of the Rapid Response Unit and Drugs Squad were on mobile patrol in the Gordon Yard area conducting random stop and search of vehicles.

The passenger van, in which James was travelling, was stopped. On searching the vehicle, the officers noticed James fondling with something, which she apparently threw under her seat. The officers noticing this brought James out the van and retrieved a brown bag from under her seat.

James told the officers, “Me na know nothing bout no weed”.

While she was outside the van, James made an attempt to throw a bag that was hidden in her waist over an embankment . The transparent plastic bag was found and she stated “Officer give me ah chance please”.

The dreadlocked woman told the Magistrate that she was going to use the weed for medicinal purposes to treat her ten-year-old child whom she said suffered with asthma. Magistrate Sinanan-Bollers strongly urged James to seek other ways of treating her child’s sickness.

“There are other ways in which asthma can be treated, you need to get educated on things like these.”

Bollers further told James that there could be a strong possibility of her daughter becoming dependent on the drug for the rest of her life if she din’t stop using marijuana to treat her child.