Man caught with marijuana says it was to make tea

Oliver Bedminister of Gutter Village has told a Roseau Magistrate that the 50 grams of cannabis found in his possession on July 28, 2010 was merely an ingredient for his tea.

Bedminster appeared before Chief Magistrate Evelina Baptiste last week and pleaded guilty to possession and intent to supply the illegal drug.

According to the facts of the case presented by the police prosecutor, at about 7:45 a.m. on the said date, officers executed a search warrant at the home of Lincoln Auguiste, with whom the defendant lives.

Before the search commenced, the officers asked Bedminister whether he had any drugs in his home. The defendant handed the police a black plastic bag and said, “A little marijuana weed that in it.”

No other drugs were found during the search.

When asked to mitigate on his own behalf at his hearing, Bedminister told the court that the drugs were only to make a “little tea”.

“You might be one of the persons who believe that the drug is good for you…That it’s good for asthma and that rubbish…You see what’s happening to the young people? They are violent, they are drop outs…and a lot of it is about the drug culture…you and all those other lazy bones,” the magistrate told Bedminister.

“Don’t come here and tell me is just for you to make a little tea…Some of you don’t  mind making blood money and spending it while it is causing destruction to other persons and say is for tea and for asthma…don’t come here and say those things,”  she said.

The defendant was said to have no previous offenses. He  was fined $850 for the possession of cannabis. He will pay this by September 30, 2010 or he will spend six months in prison.

He was also fined $1,000 for intent to supply. This he will pay by October 30,2010 or he will face seven months in prison.

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37 Comments

  1. June 17, 2011

    I bet we see marijuana legalized in 5 years or less.

  2. Dorette Alie
    December 29, 2010

    i would have said the same thing!!lol

  3. vampiro
    August 10, 2010

    de weed was used to make tea. lmao cunta boy u fuuny.its a normal ting for dem to harras gutter village and tarish but they dont see dem police dat bringing it for us to sell for them. babylon must falll from de top come down. time must heal

  4. Bobby Brown
    August 7, 2010

    @jahknow:

    The magistrate here is showing her extreme ignorance, marijuana has been used for healing purposes for thousands of years, in fact several weeks earlier the British government granted full approval for UK company GW Pharmaceuticals to market Sativex on the National Health Plan.

    see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sativex for further information.

    “Sativex is an oromucosal (mouth) spray for multiple sclerosis patients, who can use it to alleviate neuropathic pain, spasticity, overactive bladder, and other symptoms. Sativex is also being prescribed to alleviate pain due to cancer and has been researched in various models of peripheral and central neuropathic pain.”

    It’s time to take your heads out of the sand, we are talking pot here, not Meth, crack or heroin.
    Pot has great healing power, let’s use some common sense and move out of the realm of paranoia and bs propaganda.

  5. LOL
    August 5, 2010

    you are an idiot

  6. Dr.FEDT
    August 4, 2010

    @Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque.You specualted i may have a retention problem yes I do urine not memory.Hhahahahahah what about you ? Did I hear you say both? well you there bad like we say in DA & Antigua

  7. August 4, 2010

    Francisco Etienne, you are right on about the many causes of heart flutter, or heart palpitation as I know it. I was under a lot of tress, I was in my mid forty’s, and I was also suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, which was not yet under control, when I started to have that experience of the heart. You sound like you really know a few things. Not that I want to provoke some of us into further irritation, I just like to give Jack his Jacket and you deserve to have yours.

    Even if my heart experience was not painful, the speed of the heart beats used to scare me to death. But somehow I never accepted that God wants me to die of a heart attack. Thank you for all that information, it really helped me a bit further. And I also had a little laugh from one of your expressions as well. But unlike what you said, King Solomon said that laughter is a good medicine.

    Do not worry about what some people will say, we know what is in our heads, and they know what is in theirs. Keep on doing what you are doing with the awareness that there are people who pay attention to you, and most receive a new thing from you. Just remember that no matter how many gallons of liquid or fluid you pour into a strainer it just will not hold anything. Some of us have minds like that.

    Trueghoss, you have said it perfectly. We cannot have one without the other. Reading and writing comes hand in hand. Too many of us hate to read, thinking that it is enough to write five or six words, and to expect the rest of us to capture a whole world of reasoning from those few words.

  8. trueghoss
    August 4, 2010

    @Peace:
    nobody should ever and i mean NEVER compromise for those who don’t take the time to read. Its because of this attention deficit disorder that we have so many problems in the world. If people paid more attention and took the time off to understand things that actually have importance then we would quite possibly be better off.

  9. @elizabeth xavier:

    ” It is not painful, and it does not damage the walls of the heart, but I read that those who suffer from it can also suffer a heart attack. ”

    Elizabeth, actually a heart attack from that condition is likely imminent, because during one of the episodes, it can cause a blood clot to form in the lungs, which would make breathing almost impossible.

    It can cause blood clots in the brain, which would cause an immediate stroke.

    It is important to determine when the symptoms started, how often they occur, and how long each episode lasts. If symptoms are paroxysmal, a Holter monitor may be worn by the patient from anywhere between 24 hours and 30 days

    Because the Holter monitor records every heartbeat over a 24-hour period, it can be used to diagnose atrial flutter and to determine how often it is occurring.

    Based on the finding, a regimental treatment is decided by the patients doctor. If the cycle of fibrillations occurs rapidly within a certain period of time which I shall not disclosed, it could mean a stroke, or heart attack, which could lead to the patients demise.

    Stress might cause the problem, nonetheless, age contributes to that also. Most people who suffers from hyperglycemia, and hypoglycemia, (diabetes) and hypertension ( high blood pressure) are likely to develop cardiac problems, once that occurs, it is likely that atrial problems will develop.

    On another note; you see what I keep telling you about foolish small minded people of ours; some little nobody, believes I am a joke, people like that usually laugh themselves to their death!

    Talking about I make them laugh on DNO with the comments I make, but the rubbish that they write perhaps edifies their soul, and the mind of those who are like them. As long as they cannot understand what they read, their alternative is to attack the person who wrote something so simple, yet it becomes a mind boggling situation for them.

    Why?

    Because they lack the ability to think cognetively!

    You see that is why Dominica is the way it is:

    These people has nothing significant to offer, In the event all of the political rubbish was eliminated from this site, all of those low class uneducated people; with no name would finally disappear, because they would not be able to participate in any constructive, or an academic debate.

    By then perhaps more intellectuals would make submissions that others could benefit something from what they write.

    Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque

  10. Peace
    August 4, 2010

    What is this you writing? Stop copying and pasting stuff from the internet- this takes time to read- just get to the point and give atleast one reason why u believe marijuana tea is good for human health. You conflicting the thoughts of the not so intellectual readers.

  11. TEF
    August 4, 2010

    Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque hahahah! you make us laugh on this site.DNO is never short on comical postings and FEDT is the main contributor,What would this site be without you.
    You are the one to re-read my post stick to the TOPIC FEDT the top was legalin nature hence the main ingredient of the discuss. .A mention could be made as a reason why the legal aspects should be related to the defense of the one charged.I insist FEDT that you should stay on topic.FEDT one goes off at not on a tangent. I will check your site for more laughs if I i need some jokes later and maybe other folk who want to laugh to should read FEDT’s site.Did you tell us about when you and Dr.Yakey were growing up in Wesley & Marigot even in Antigua and Monserrat? Or when you all went out to lauch in California?Don’t flutter FEDT.

  12. Kanpeche
    August 4, 2010

    @STAFFEE:

    Staffee, Do you really believe that weed is the reason for our problems? I am sure your know that our ills run much deeper than a guy smoking some trees.

  13. Kanpeche
    August 4, 2010

    Talk about the usual misdirected energy by our police force. A man can’t even have an up-lifting cup of tea on his quest for spiritual enlightenment anymore. Weed is not the problem. Artificially manufactured drugs (like cacaine) are. It is so typical to scapegoat a bush that is grown out of the ground on our social ills.

    Such poorly crafted words from one of our most learned judges. Is she executing judgement, or is she throwing nasty words at her neighbour? This is supposed to be the upper echelon of academia in DA? Sometimes I wonder about their academic credentials. Where do they get their law degrees from – En Bas Mango University?

  14. August 4, 2010

    Francisco Etienne, I am familiar with the heart flutter thing that you talked about. Some years ago I used to suffer from it quite often, medically, it is known as heart palpitation in Canada. I read that it is brought on by stress. It is not painful, and it does not damage the walls of the heart, but I read that those who suffer from it can also suffer a heart attack.

    It is true that marijuana leaves are used for a lot of medical purposes, boiled or not. My friend suffers from asthma, but since she started to use marijuana leaves as a medical tea, she gets the asthma attacks much more seldom than before she used it. I even believe that she is cured from that disease.

    Not everyone has seen a person suffer from an asthma attack, but I have, and it is the most frightening experience, to watch the person inhaling and exhaling as if he or she will die right there before you. Knowing that marijuana leaves will help that person, I would not hesitate to find it wherever I can to give to him or her.

    At Genesis 1 verse 12: It is said that God commanded the earth to bring forth grass or herbs, and trees, whose seeds would produce fruits after its own kind. Fruits and herbs were created by the power of God for the purpose of food and medicine for mankind, whom He later created. Of course marijuana is one of those herbs.

    But what has happened? Human beings interfered with God’s creation once more. They called the herb WEED or GANGER. They started to distort it medical strength by adding fire to it, maybe it is the smoke that is distorting the mind, if the leaves was not meant to be burnt with fire. Maybe the distortion comes from mixing the herb itself with another bad weed. I do not know, I am searching for answers. And then they decided to write laws against using it. If marijuana is a medical herb that come from the ground like tobacco, what is wrong with smoking it.

    I am not and will not be a smoker of anything, but most of the men of my people smoke marijuana, including my son, and by the judgment of God, I know that they are committing no sin. I say the same for the young man who was caught with 2 ounces of marijuana, and treated so badly by the court’s magistrate.

    I agree with Gary, this time. That magistrates went against her authority with her judgment. Her verbal expressions against that young man is unacceptable in the courtroom. And in a country like Canada, she would be in hot water for the language she used as she passed judgement on the young man whether he is guilty or not guilty.

    It is time for us to function like the rest of the world, in our every approach of our daily life circumstances.

  15. STAFFEE
    August 3, 2010

    It’s time to weed out those weeds in the country. Too many parros and thieves around.

  16. @What was the topic again?:

    Well, you actually made me go out on a tengent, I just discovered that!

    If he was from Wesley, you would hear from me. He might have a Marigot Connection, since there are some people who has the same surname Yankee, like him in Marigot, is he your cousin?

    Hahahahahahahahahahahah!

    I think you set a trap for me and the kid fell right into it, but that okay cbecause I have you told in the last episode I wrote.

    And that’s your fault!

  17. @What was the topic again?:

    They say commonsense, and understanding are two of the greatest gift from a higher power to man, however, not all of us are endowed with such gifts, and no matter how simple it is articulated, some of us never get the concept of the matter, either because we are unable to think and understand cognitively.

    I assure you that I am very much aware of the topic, and that is why I was able to comment, and disseminate the information which I disseminated on Atrial Fibrillations ( Heart Flutter).

    I do believe that you are the one who missed the topic.

    Unless you have a retention problem, you may remember I started out by saying whereas, it may seem a joke, it is not actually!

    I stated that in reference to the fact that the convicted in his defense to the court, stated that the Cannabis, the Ganja, the ( marijuana), which he possessed, was to be used, into the making of tea.

    Since both my long-term, and my short-term memory is still functional, and very effective at that; I do recall saying when I was a kid growing up in Wesley, I saw people made tea from marijuana leaves and drank, thus they claim relieving them from the medical condition heart flutter, and murmur.

    If you care to return to my comments and read it again, you may find some of what I said in the first version to be verbatim to this the second version, developed and written especially for you!

    Be reminded I commented on another situation, where a lady was arrested in Antigua fore being in possession of a marijuana plant which she did not know it was marijuana, because she knew the plant by another name.

    I stated she also claimed she has used the leaves for many years, for same purpose of calming a heart condition she suffered from.

    I would have went out on a tangent, if the topic was a about a car, and I went about talking about a telephone, or perhaps King Kong!

    So what’s your point, if there is a question you would like to ask me on the subject of Atrial Fibrillations please feel free to do so, though I am not an authority on the subject, among my other professions, I do have a medical background, and since you have stimulated the subject, I will be uploading a brief in the subject on my Website http://www.yvonnedods.com later this week perhaps you would like to check it out perhaps you will learn a little more about the disease, and you not wish to try to insult my intelligence so quickly.

    Never underestimate a person especially when you do not actually know them!

    Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque

  18. Not EB'sdoctor?
    August 3, 2010

    @Cannabis Lover are you sure of the fact that Evalina has high blood pressure? We know she is fat but not all fatties pressure high!

  19. What was the topic again?
    August 3, 2010

    Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque what was the topic? Was it Marijana or Heart flutter.You went off at a tangent there.
    You could have given this lecturer if we were talking about medical marijuana.:An issue of great debate in the news.Some times you just need to read man and not comment. Did you comment on Dr.Yakees passing too,giving us stories when you all were growing in Wesley?And one day he told you…………………..He was not from Wesleyjust incase you are thinking of starting something. Me not saying more hahahahha.
    TEF

  20. Gary
    August 3, 2010

    What really got my attention in this case is some of the statements made by the Magistrate, expressing her personal opinion and showing her lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the uses of marijuana, making general statements based on stereotyping. She is entitled to have an opinion, but let us remember, personal options are not “truths.” and should not be presented in a courtroom, that is dangerous, this is not a place where personal options should be expressed. The opinion expressed by the Magistrate is one that is widely held by many in our society unfortunately, and passes for truth.

    Mr Bedminister was charged with intent to supply. Where is the evidence of that intent to supply? Is it just arbitrarily decided by the Magistrate with no evidence presented. The courtrooms should not be treated as personal domain of certain people with what they don’t like or like, that is not how justice is carried out.

    Let me say I’m in no way advocating to the use or possession of Marijuana. It is an illegal substance under the law. There are also procedures under the law as to how the legal system should operate with the people administering it ensuring that justice is rightly served and carried out, and not done arbitrarily.

  21. information is power
    August 3, 2010

    i hate that these Magistrates and people are so ignorante to tthe truth about marijuana
    if u want to know the truth about marijuana and why people look at it the way they do

    download the documental GRASS by ron mann

  22. @Cat Grass:

    It has many medicinal uses. In the United State, Califorina, and around Los Angles, where I reside, there are many licensed medicinal stores where marijuana are sold to people as long they have a medical prescription, prescribe by a medical doctor.

    It is usually prescribe to chronically ill cancer patients, people with glaucoma, and other painful chronic illnesses.

    DNO you can print this and my first account on the matter, anything I write medically, politically, or based on a point or fact of law can be authenticated, or verified!

    And in that case I mean from a legal, medical, and political point of view.

    Nothing I write will cause the initiation of a law suite against personal at DNO, or DNO for that matter. I am able to substantiate anything I write about, or comment upon, and that is why I boldly write under my true name.

    Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque

  23. uh??
    August 3, 2010

    we all know that it wasn’t for tea but dang, was it really intended for supply??? 2 ounces??

  24. xmxn
    August 3, 2010

    weed is not a drug it will not make any body violent if you dont know what you saying judge shut up you all should go after the crack and cocaine people thats drug that wll make people steal and be violent but no they are the big boys in DA they are the ones thats spoiling our youth not this young man you talking all that crap about weed dont hurt nobody

  25. jahknow
    August 3, 2010

    “You might be one of the persons who believe that the drug is good for you…That it’s good for asthma and that rubbish..”
    For a person of supposed education this must be one of the most ignorant statements I have heard from a judge.

  26. Reddz
    August 3, 2010

    since when a weed is blood money? get real dont get cannabis twisted with cocaine!!!

  27. Cat Grass
    August 3, 2010

    50 grams is less than 2 ounces…

    The magistrate also should inform herself before giving her very biased opinion. There are many, many independent studies showing that smoking weed in the short term does indeed help in some cases of asthma.

    And poor Oliver got told off like he was really responsible for violence and drop outs, when all he wanted was a little soothing tea.

  28. You know, though the idea using Marijuana leaf’s to make tea, may seems a joke, it is not actually!

    As far back as a kid, growing up in Wesley, I saw people drank marijuana tea in order to control their heart flutter; there was an incident in Antigua also, where an old woman was arrested when she walk passed the old Police Headquarters on New Gate Street, for being in possession of a huge marijuana plant, about six feet tall.

    When she inquired of the police why she was arrested, the police informed her for possession of Marijuana, she was surprised claiming she had used the plant leaves for a number of years, for the same purpose ” heart flutter ” and not knowing she was in fact using Marijuana.

    She knew the plant by another name!

    There is a chemical substance in the leaf, when ingested in tea form, it helps to regulate one’s heart rate, in the case where people suffers from Atrial Fibrillations (heart flutter), and murmur

    Note: Atrial flutter is a common tachycardia ( fast heart beat) that results from a rapid electrical circuit in the atrium.

    Atrial flutter can be caused by scarring in the heart resulting from prior cardiac disease or heart surgery, however it can also occur in (patients) people, with no other identifiable heart problems. During atrial flutter, instead of the electrical activity starting in the sinus node, electrical activity begins in a large circuit that causes the atria to beat very rapidly.

    The rapid beating of the atria can in turn cause the ventricles to beat rapidly. Atrial flutter typically originates from the right atrium, and most often involves a large circuit that travels around the area of the tricuspid valve that is between the right atrium and the right ventricle.

    This type of atrial flutter is referred to as typical atrial flutter.

    Less commonly, atrial flutter can result from circuits in other areas of the right or left atrium that cause the heart to beat fast. Atrial flutter that results from these less common types of circuits is referred to as atypical atrial flutter.

    Finally, I do not suggest anyone indulging in the use of marijuana tea drinking in the event they suspect they are suffering from heart flutter.

    Your best alternative is to visit a medical doctor who will suggest the treatment to suit your immediate condition.

    Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque

  29. August 3, 2010

    A man got a lil weed at home…come on miss baptise..the drug problem in D.A is because they are to hard on Ganga smokers so the yout dem just taking other harder drugs to ease dem head.some laws need to change in D.A.Not a Ganga Smoker anyway but have no problem with a brother smoking his Ganga.

  30. Cannabis Lover
    August 3, 2010

    @Dr. Finger:
    In my youth, i’ve never seen crack/cocaine being smoked, today my son witnesses such action opposite the Police Station in Portsmouth while walking home from school.

    Its funny how we are such halfwits when the subject of cannabis comes about, ‘Chief Magistrate’ or one who calls self ‘Dr. Finger’.
    One administer a drug to (someone) in order to induce stupor or insensibility.
    The magistrate is showing evidence of the above, it could be the hypertension medicine/drug she took that morning, leading to her lack of awareness that 14 of the 52 United States have legalized the same substance/herb for uses denied; define ignorance.

  31. joe
    August 3, 2010

    tea my a** the fines should be higher

  32. texas
    August 3, 2010

    Whilst the deterant for the use and abuse of drugs is the impending custody that is imposed once aprehended, the air waves must be one of the main tools to be used to spread and educate the public on the abuse of illegal drugs, some of us in the public and those serving in prominent positions of society still debate wether it is a political decision or an imported decision on how to deal with drugs. One of the other aspects of it’s use in society is the under ground market that make it’s use in such great demand, we have to ask our selves, what investments can we make to realistically change one’s view of it’s use, some argue that it is naturally grown, and this debate is definitely a lost case for those who would otherwise contend with it’s availability, therefore, it may beyond the control of a big goverment to control what is naturally grown, it may maent hat the altenative will have to dealt with to show the medical properties that are for or against it and if that case can debated scientifically and medically, the aproach to control this substance will have to be dealt with, based on the property values it can contribute to society if any. There is no quick fix to a problem that may have been inherited within the past hundred of years.

  33. kimrah
    August 3, 2010

    wow thats good one.

  34. Dr. Finger
    August 3, 2010

    Wow…he got just what he deserved. We need to take control of the drug situation in Dca. Weed or otherwise, drugs are destroying our people. But what surprises me is that this same magistrate gave a guy a slap on the wrist for attempted wounding (should have been attempted murder) last month.

  35. SHHHHHHHH!
    August 3, 2010

    free up de weed! People on River Bank selling and using crack/cocaine all by de roadside, while men, women and children passing, and you squeezing a man for a little weed???!!! where is the justice in dat?!!

    • so tru
      May 22, 2012

      im telling you . they sit there all day on river street with their cocaine in the little straws and the police offers turn a blind eye. and they go right at the man home and pinalize him for 2 oz of WEED c’mon…… :!:

  36. ganjafarmer
    August 3, 2010

    ignorance

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