WESTERN GAZETTE (UK) - A CHARD man who was found with thousands of pounds worth of cannabis lying around his home and claimed he used liberal amounts in his daily life has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Rastafarian Molly Alcindor said he had been using the drug since the age of 9 and its use for health reasons, for cooking and making tea, as well as recreational smoking was entrenched in his home culture in St Lucia.
Once the numerous quantities of the drug were recovered by police they were analysed and found to be a total of more than 1.7kg with an estimated street value in the region of £17,000.
Further examination by police of his address along with mobile phone records could not confirm any evidence that the defendant had been involved in supplying the drug to other people.
And when he appeared before Somerset Magistrates he said he believed the drug had been grown locally but he had not paid anything for it.
Alcindor, 44, of Fairway Rise, pleaded guilty to being in possession of 1,716g of cannabis (class B) at Chard on December 16 last year.
Prosecutor Lucy Coleman told the court at Yeovil that police went to the defendant’s home and found the “huge” quantity of cannabis.
In a prepared statement given to the police Alcindor said he was a heavy cannabis user for health reasons and had been using it medicinally since the age of nine.
“He said he used it to make green tea for his asthma and for cooking and also smoked it for recreation and it helped with his rheumatism,” she said.
“He said he did not sell it or share it with anyone else and some of it was in bags for his own convenience as he sometimes took it with him when he went out. He said he believed it was grown locally but did not pay for it.”
Following analysis of the drug the court was told that with an average daily consumption of the drug it would take between 5 and 10 years to use the amount found at Alcindor’s home.
Defending solicitor Gareth Webb said that his client was originally from St Lucia and was a familiar figure around Chard doing car valeting and was very well known.
He moved to England in 1999 after marrying a Chard woman, but had separated last year and was now in a new relationship.
“He is a Rastafarian, is an optimistic person and does not really drink alcohol, but after being charged with possession of cannabis there was no evidence that he was selling drugs to anyone,” he said.
“He just uses a lot of cannabis and from the age of nine took it with his father in St Lucia and it was part of their religious rights and is used in a very different way than in this country.
“It was smoked, used in tea and cooking and as a herb and medicine, and that is why there was so much of it and he had it all around the house and showed the police when they arrived.”
He said that Alcindor suffered from sciatica, rheumatism and stomach problems and believed that cannabis gave him assistance with those conditions.
“Cleary this has been an eye-opening experience and he has never had any involvement with the law before and is now seeking other alternatives through his GP,” he added.
The magistrates told Alcindor it had been “a huge amount of cannabis” and sentenced him to eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.
During that time he must carry out 200 hours unpaid work in the community and was also ordered to pay £85 costs and an £80 victim surcharge. They also issued a destruction order for the cannabis.