Yolan­der Per­saud

Yolan­der Per­saud

Stu­dent, Hugh Wood­ing Law School

What is mar­i­jua­na?

Cannabis (from the cannabis sati­va plant) is known pop­u­lar­ly by many names such as mar­i­jua­na, weed, pot and gan­ja.How­ev­er it is termed, se­ri­ous con­se­quences flow from pos­ses­sion of this sub­stance, be it for per­son­al use or for the pur­pose of traf­fick­ing. Mar­i­jua­na is classed as a nar­cot­ic drug and psy­chotrop­ic sub­stance un­der the Dan­ger­ous Drugs Act Chap 11:25. This is the leg­is­la­tion that gov­erns pos­ses­sion and traf­fick­ing of mar­i­jua­na and oth­er dan­ger­ous drugs in Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Con­se­quences of pos­sess­ing mar­i­jua­na

A per­son found to have mar­i­jua­na in his/her pos­ses­sion is guilty of an of­fence and is li­able on sum­ma­ry con­vic­tion (in the mag­is­trates' courts) to a fine of $25,000 and to im­pris­on­ment for five years. Up­on con­vic­tion on in­dict­ment (in the High Court), such in­di­vid­ual is li­able to a fine of $50,000 and to im­pris­on­ment for a term over five years, but not ex­ceed­ing 10 years.

Pos­ses­sion of mar­i­jua­na for the pur­pose of traf­fick­ing is al­so a se­ri­ous of­fence. Traf­fick­ing refers to the sale and dis­tri­b­u­tion of il­le­gal drugs. If you are found with more than one kilo­gramme of mar­i­jua­na, this is classed as pos­ses­sion for the pur­pose of traf­fick­ing, un­less you can prove oth­er­wise. Up­on con­vic­tion on in­dict­ment, the fine is $100,000, or where there is ev­i­dence of the street val­ue of the drug it will be three times the street val­ue, whichev­er amount is greater, plus im­pris­on­ment for a term of 25 years to life.

Be­ing found in pos­ses­sion of any dan­ger­ous drug on any school premis­es or with­in 500 me­tres of a school is deemed pos­ses­sion for the pur­pose of traf­fick­ing, un­less the con­trary can be proven by the ac­cused. "School premis­es" in­clude the premis­es of a school, col­lege, uni­ver­si­ty or oth­er ed­u­ca­tion­al in­sti­tu­tion, which may in­clude build­ings, play­ing fields or oth­er premis­es near to or in the im­me­di­ate area of the in­sti­tu­tion.

The fine for this of­fence is $100,000 up­on con­vic­tion on in­dict­ment, or where there is ev­i­dence of the street val­ue of the drug it will be three times the street val­ue, whichev­er amount is greater, in ad­di­tion to im­pris­on­ment for a term of 35 years to life.

If a per­son oc­cu­pies, con­trols, or is in any build­ing, room, ve­hi­cle or any en­clo­sure or place where mar­i­jua­na is found, that per­son will be charged with pos­ses­sion, un­less they can prove that it was there with­out their knowl­edge or con­sent. Po­lice of­fi­cers who have rea­son­able cause to sus­pect that mar­i­jua­na is kept or con­cealed in such premis­es or ve­hi­cle have the pow­er to search (day or night) the area in ques­tion. A war­rant from a mag­is­trate may be ob­tained to car­ry out this search.

The above penal­ties are the max­i­mum range, and are dis­cre­tionary based on the amount of the drug found in pos­ses­sion along with pre­vi­ous con­vic­tions and oth­er con­sid­er­a­tions the judge or mag­is­trate may con­sid­er on sen­tenc­ing.

�2 This col­umn is not le­gal ad­vice. If you have a le­gal prob­lem, you should con­sult a le­gal ad­vis­er. Co-or­di­na­tor: Roshan Ram­char­i­tar