The manager of a supermarket whose lawyer said he smoked weed for his asthma was last week fined EC$500 for drug possession.
Derek Minors, manager of Greaves Marketplace at Pembroke on Wednesday pleaded guilty to possession of 173 grammes (6 ounces) of marijuana with intent to supply.
Minors has paid the fine, and, in so doing, has avoided a two-month prison term.
He was reprimanded and discharged on two other charges, namely possession of 115 grammes (5.5 ounces) and 24 grammes (0.85 ounce) of marijuana with intent to supply.
Minors was fined by Magistrate Bertie Pompey at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court.
The court heard that Station Sergeant Nolan Dallaway of the Rapid Response Unit led a team of police officers on an early morning search of the Villa home of one “Bradley Greaves”.
Greaves was not at home and Minors consented to the search, during which the drugs was found in three packages.
The court heard that Minors told the police officers that the marijuana was for him to smoke.
Minors was represented by Grant Connell, who told the court that this client uses the marijuana for his asthma.
There is an on-going debate in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the CARICOM region about decriminalising marijuana for medicinal purposes.
I have heard this defence many times in the past. If his is truly asthmatic, he should have pleaded not guilty and launched a constitutional challenge.