FRIDAY, JANUARY 21,
2022
VOLUME 116, No.03
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by HADYN HUGGINS “THIS COUNTRY is a country of contradictions.” This is the view of defence lawyer Roderick Jones. He expressed the view on Tuesday while mitigating on behalf of 25-year-old Marvin Albert, a Grenadian national who pleaded guilty to possession of 222 pounds of marijuana with intent to supply,
and possession for the purpose of drug trafficking. He enhanced his view
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stating that while some people will benefit from what is described as Medicinal Marijuana, poor people’s children can still be jailed if they are found in possession of the same herb. Albert, who was appearing before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne at the Serious Offences Court, was found in possession of the herb in the waterfront area at Ashton, Union Island, during a police action on January 14, 2022. And in referencing this country as “a country of contradictions,” Jones alluded to Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar and the Medicinal Cannabis Authority (MCA) recently boasting about St. Vincent and the Grenadines becoming the first country in the
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Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), to be granted permission to export medicinal marijuana. But the lawyer stated that “Marijuana is marijuana,” whether you call it marijuana or something else. “The rich can benefit from having an export license but the poor can still be jailed if they are found in possession,” Jones said. “We cannot have (some) people benefitting from marijuana in this country, while the children of poor people continue to go to jail,” Jones emphasized.
Albert’s challenge He said that Albert came to these shores with the hope that he would get employment, so that he could take care of his mother and his seven younger siblings in Grenada. He worked here as a gardener for a while. “This is the responsibility he took at a very young age. For
Defence lawyer Roderick Jones has cited the disadvantageous position that ‘poor people’ face in relation to the laws governing the possession of marijuana here.
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the period he was here, 2019 to 2021, he never ran afoul of the law. What changed his life was when his mother called and said she was homeless,” Jones said. According to the lawyer, Albert’s mother was recently told that she had to remove her ‘shack’ (home) from its current location. It was obvious, Jones told the Court, that Albert, in trying to do good, made a wrong decision in trying to get some marijuana sold to help his mother and siblings, and this took precedence over his own safety. “When Marvin was apprehended here and beaten by the police, he told them the weed was his,” Jones said. “His (Albert) need to help his family took precedence over his own safety. I am asking you to be as lenient as possible,” Jones pleaded
Attorney Grant Connell has made it a personal crusade to advocate for revision of the laws related to marijuana.
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with the Magistrate.
The law and marijuana possession In rebuttal, Prosecutor Renrick Cato stressed the large amount of marijuana with which Albert was found. He also highlighted the seriousness of the offence. “This is 222 pounds of cannabis. It was found in Union Island in the area of the beach, and by the own words of the defendant, his intention was to take it out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” the prosecutor told the court. Continued on Page 3.