TWENTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD, Damion Southwell, formerly of Lot 55 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam and of D’Veldt, Berbice River, confessed to using narcotics since he was aged five years, following his appearance at the New Amsterdam Court on Monday on a possession of narcotics charge.

His confession was made before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs Marcus, after he was questioned about his reason for using the illegal plant, cannabis sativa.
According to the defendant, “I use it to relieve stress. I have had a lot of stress and I was using it since five years old,” he stated in the sparsely occupied courtroom.
The magistrate then asked the Probation and Welfare Officer Ms. Vankennie, for suggestions to assist the self-confessed drug user and was informed of an ongoing substance abuse counselling session which is being held at the National Psychiatric Hospital. As a result of the advice, Southwell was ordered to attend the counselling sessions until November 7, when he is to return to court for sentencing.
Earlier, Police Sergeant Godfrey Playter, prosecuting, said that on October 12, the defendant was walking along a street in the Mount Sinai community. As a police mobile patrol approached, the defendant began to act in a suspicious manner. He was observed throwing away something which he had in his hands, which, when retrieved, was discovered to be a transparent plastic bag containing, leaves, seeds and stems of the cannabis plant.
Further, Playter noted that the defendant had spent a greater part of his life in another jurisdiction, and may have developed the habit there.
However, even though Southwell confessed to having one gram of cannabis sativa in his possession, he denied some of the facts as presented by the prosecution.
According to him, he had earlier placed his luggage onto a boat scheduled to travel up the Berbice River, but the tide was unfavourable, so he trekked to the Mount Sinai community to smoke a joint.
“Madam, I was sitting at a corner when the police came and asked me what I was doing. I said I just finish smoking a joint. They asked me for the stub, and I showed them where I had thrown it. The officer picked it up, then arrested me. I asked for a chance as my bags were in the boat at the New Amsterdam market wharf. But they did not give me a chance.”
Southwell was also ordered to post $10,000 bail.

(Jeune Vankeric)