American visitor Jerrika Dianne Braddy has been warned not to enter Barbados again with marijuana.
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Acting Magistrate Bernadeth John told her so yesterday, as Braddy, 30, a pharmacy sales representative, pleaded guilty to possession, having a traffickable quantity, intent to supply the drug and importing 31 grammes of cannabis, on September 2. She is from 3842 South Jexson Drive, Phoenix, Arizona, United States.
The prosecutor, Sergeant Ralph Rollock, said the woman arrived on a JetBlue flight on Tuesday, around 1: 30 p.m. When she came through the Grantley Adams International Airport, a Customs officer scanned and searched her luggage and found a small bag of weed inside a black sock, a tin containing 21 spliffs, a vape and two refills of marijuana oil. The marijuana was worth $155.
Mitigating, attorney Reco Blackman informed the court that Braddy actually declared the marijuana when asked whether she had anything to declare, and showed the Customs officer where the contraband was within her luggage.
She pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, Blackman went on to say, while asking for a non-custodial sentence. He added that due to injuries sustained in a 2021 car accident, his client suffers with chronic pain in her left leg and lower back, and has been using marijuana ever since. She is a licensed marijuana user in Arizona, Blackman continued.
“Marijuana use is still not legal in Barbados. Even though you are a licensed marijuana user in Arizona, ignorance of the law in Barbados is not an excuse; you could have googled it,” the court stressed.
The Acting Magistrate then reprimanded and discharged Braddy on all counts, with the warning not to do it again.
“Do not come back, because the next time won’t be the first time anymore. Don’t do it again!” she said. (SD)