DESPITE PLEADING GUILTY to three drug charges, Timothy Nicholas Joseph denied he has a drug problem.
He also refused the opportunity offered by Magistrate Douglas Frederick to get help for himself, and his 12-year-old son, when he appeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The Drug Squad executed a warrant at Joseph’s 1st Avenue Amity Lodge, Christ Church home on Tuesday and found a bag containing cannabis valued at $16 on top of a built-in closet.
They also found cocaine worth $20 in a bag – which the taxi driver claimed belonged to his ex-girlfriend who returned to Jamaica about four weeks ago – on his dining room table. A bag with 26 tablets of the prescription drug Xanax was also discovered on his kitchen counter.
Joseph, 45, denied using cocaine, but said he smoked marijuana “sometimes”, in the absence of his son. The court heard that the Xanax was prescribed about two years ago by a doctor but, not wanting to return to the doctor and pay to get another prescription, Joseph took it to a pharmacist for a refill.
Magistrate Frederick expressed concern that not only was Joseph on a “downward spiral” and was self-medicating on Xanax along with ingesting the drugs, but that he was exposing his son to dangers.
Joseph denied the latter suggestion, saying he was very careful not to smoke around his son. When asked why he did not smoke around the boy, Joseph said he wanted his son to make a decision on his own without his influence.
The magistrate noted that Joseph had a prior conviction in 1997 for having cannabis, and offered the opportunity for rehab on more than one occasion. Joseph shook his head each time and said: “I want to go home.”
He was sentenced to six months in jail but suspended for one year for the Xanax, and convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the other two charges.
