Students Charged: Drug Possession
18-year-old Kiarron Minks and another teenager aged under 18 appeared in Magistrates Court earlier this week charged with offences involving illegal drugs, some of which occurred on school property. One pleaded guilty, while the other pleaded not guilty and will go on trial in January 2012.
Senior Magistrate Archie Warner first dealt with 18-year-old Kiarron Minks who faced four charges all stemming from incidents on 3rd November 2011.
The charges were that in a high school, an Increased Penalty Zone, Mr Minks was in possession of cannabis; that he had supplied cannabis; that at his Smith’s Parish home, he had a grinder intended for use in the preparation of a controlled drug; that he was in (further) possession of cannabis.
Mr Minks pleaded not guilty to all four charges and was given a trial date of 4th January 2012, and remanded into custody at the COED facility.
Next up was the other teenager who was charged with possession of cannabis on 3rd November 2011 and pleaded guilty. The evidence offered was that he and Mr Minks had been caught at the high school and had been detained in the presence of the Deputy Head.
Police were called to the school property and, with the Deputy Head still present, Police searched the students and found two plastic bags, each containing plant material, tucked into the student’s school tie.
The teenager told Police that he had, that day, purchased the material, later analyzed and found to be cannabis, from Mr Minks for $10 each for the two bags. On analysis, the two bags were found to contain a total 0.7 grams of cannabis.
The Court that the homes of both students had been searched. Drug preparation materials as well as more drugs were found at Mr Mink’s house but nothing was found at the other teenager’s house.
Accepting his guilty plea, the Magistrate convicted the teenager, ordered a Social Inquiry Report, and directed that he should return to Court on 9th January 2012 for sentencing.
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Another young male added to the US stop list
and rightly so. he knows full well the affects of drug use….including the travel restrictions placed on him if convicted. he done it to himself.
What about holding the parents responsible? Let’s have some Accountability. Charge them all!!! Throw the book at them and set the precedence.
At 18 years old he is accountable for his own actions – don’t keep putting the blame on the parents – he is old enough to do the crime and definitely old enough to do the time.
US has enough drug dealers and users without bringing in any more….problems still begin at home and also politicians who are in favor of relaxing penalties for their own self interests……its illegal and when you get caught you pay the price…..
PAY THE PRICE? for havin a lil marijuana? Idk why US makin a big deal when they allowin states to call it “Medical Marijuana”. – I watched a show and it actually isn’t too hard to get a card for it…
As far as I’m concerned, I find it very unfair how people put on stoplist for a lil bit of weed and criminals that have KILLED have the right to fly to US when their victim is dead in a hole underground!
The US act like these boys have no potential to change! I agree some of them eventually don’t, but the amount of boys that I know that have made mistakes in recent years and they have now moved on with their life to do something better…
Their name should be on the stoplist for a certain amount of time but if you are 35 years old and successful with a clean record since the incident and being penalized for having marijuana when you were 18? Thats ridiculous. WE ARE HUMANS & WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES! Idk y people that make these rules act like they never made mistakes in their life once upon a time. Most boys are gonna try weed someday, no matter what country or race they are, sorry to say.
I can understand if it’s crack or heroin but marijuana? OH PUH LEASE
no mate when your convicted of murder you cant fly to the US …and whether or not you think a lil weed is harmful or not, the question to ask here is why do our young men consistently put themselves in these life changing positions when they know the consequences.. They wasnt caught with weed at home they handled it in school knowing what the rules are. Lets be truthful about this whole thing, these young men dont care for any sort of rules that govern them, they want to do whatever they want. PPL are selling and using weed everyday at their jobs and around schools totally disregarding the punishments that come with it, then when they get caught they want to cry foul a complain about a damn stop list. SPARE ME the sob storys!! make better decisions
U.S. has enough drug dealers because of prohibition which makes drugs profitable to the dealers. Besides the drugs the teen had most likely came from the U.S. so why feel sorry for their problems they create. Canada & Europe have more lenient drug laws & less problems with gangs & drugs then the U.S. which is proof prohibition does not work.
So we lock up two kids because they have leaves in their pockets. What a waste of my tax dollars. Please police continue the good job you’ve been doing catching violent criminals. This is such a small issue that can be resolved without the use of police, courts and my tax dollars! After all, we are only a billion dollars in debt.
LMFAO!!!!! Leaves in their pockets!!! I like that one!!
Yes I
for a small joint, i’d agree with you..
but on school grounds? with grinders? supplying? these are not just “leaves in pockets”. if i had a kid at the school that drugs were being sold/supplied at, i’d be f’n furious.
ahh ticket if you have teen children going school here chances are herb is being sold and smoked on or near school premises …..ya better start getting f……n furious lol
what a dumb statement, police dont make the laws they enforce them. Dont blame them for doing their jobs and they do catch violent criminals. I suppose your 100% efficient in your line of work too
They are warned over & over. Don’t put yourself on the US stoplist.
This is not simply a user case. It is a for supply case. Much more serious.
They don’t learn. They think that they are somehow above the law. Somehow that is not surprising when we have polititians who refuse to take a drug test. Why?
I get that there are laws that prohibit the use of ‘pot’ and if we are honest, tough I know for some of you, we would agree that the use is prevalent throughout our society; black, white, rich, poor, blue collar and white collar. But what bothers me is that the only ones being arrested are young black males, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
The reason for this James which you probably know already so more an enlightenment to others is that prohibition laws that still remain today where instituted in 1930 by a racist ku klux klan member named Harry Jacob Anslinger. He was the first drug czar of America who used his new drug laws to imprison blacks & deport hispanics. He was even quoted as saying,
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” & also said “Colored students at the Univ. of Minn. partying with (white) female students, smoking [marijuana] and getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution. Result: pregnancy”
Some may think what I’ve typed is fabricated so I challenge them to research this guy themselves. They will find that support of prohibition is support of modern day racism. This is why the United Nations has trashed Harry Anslinger’s laws and adopted more intelligent laws & Bermuda should do the same. We should be using British Parliamentary laws that have Cannabis at a lower classification than harder drugs not America’s racist hypocritical policies.
Weed should simply be regulated and decriminalized.
Creating rap sheets for simple and minor possession is counterproductive to society as a whole.
The inability to travel and be hired due to small weed possession is just downright stupid.
It still blows my mind that we kick out tourists, fine and embarass them (via show trials) for possession of small quantities.
Hopefully Marc Bean stays the course regarding this topic and something is done about these outdated and draconian laws.
i agree with you guys that weed really isnt the danger it is labelled as, but at the end of hte day it is still illegal, especially to supply, and especially on school grounds.
I’m all for the fight to have this prohibition repealed, but that doesnt mean people should willingly break the law without regard to consequences.
cause they the dumb ones allegedly carrying it on their person in schools. The school called police it wasnt the police just choosing to stop 2 black males. Our young men need to make better choices, im not got any sympathy for such foolishness. Yes their are prejudices in our society, thats why my mother taught me not to put my self in such positions.make good decisions or live with the bad ones, fools
Clearly the solution is to abolish school ties…
Some lessons are best left unlearnt . When he is 58yrs old he will still be reminded of his failures .
This is what happens when we allow the Bda Police make over 14,000 Stop & Searches – just in the first 3/4 of the year! 14,000 potentially unconstitutional personal privacy invading searches!!
According to some in the know, EVERY black man, aged 18 to 34 years, gets stopped and searched at least FOUR TIMES A YEAR!! Not whites though! That’s PROFILING!!
Many of Bermuda’s drug laws are sooooo draconian, out-of-date, and harsh!! They should be amended immediately! In most cases, the punishment is MUCH WORSE than the so-called “crime.”
Cripes! It was just a few joints!!! Whoopdee-doo!!
Don’t you know it’s considered medicine nowadays.
Oh shut up!
That all you got?!
lol here’s more..
“according to some in the know” basically means cordell riley and hisreport..
to other people in the know, that article was horrendously written, with cherry picked statistics and flat out incorrect conclusions and results.
While the trend of more blacks to whites is definitely there, this “EVERY black man, aged 18 to 34 years, gets stopped and searched at least FOUR TIMES A YEAR” is just incorrect and an emotional string he’s pulling.
If you have a country with only a white male and two black males.. lets say the white and one black guy are solid members of society, and one black male is one of these gangsters.
the two solid members were both searched once, and the “gang” male was S&S’d 5 times. … can you really turn around and write a report that only says “every black male will be stoped 3 times a year”… ???
thats BS. Cordell needed to give more stats about where they are pulled over. What were they wearing? Did they look thuggish?
There was so much left out that that article was not “in the know”
that being said… im my opinion, profiling is fine. If the majority of crimes are reported as “dark skinned male”, does it really make sense to target blacks and whites equally? You would be correct is saying that whites commit crimes too, but those are not reported often as “white skinned male”, and as such why would they be targets of “stop and search”? Perhaps its unfair, but it makes logical sense.
however, the laws are draconian. yes they should be amended. But still, this was not just a joint, this was “supposedly, dealing in school. a much bigger issue than just a joint.
hi just wanted to throw in that i’m white and been stop-n-searched twice this year. it didn’t seem like there was any reason that i gave them, just walked/drove thru wherever they were deciding to sit off and check people.
I Agree
These students are 18 years old so they should be taking advantage of being legally able to get drunk to the point they have lost all inhibition and have become aggressive then go out start fights, have unprotected sex and then crash their parents car. This would be better then them blazing some herb that Lord forbid!!! will make them mellow, giggly, have the munchies & so paranoid they will think twice about doing anything stupid.
If you think the above statement is true you called learn a lot from a dummy.
This is retarted! You are going to ruin a young mans life over a plant? I dont even smoke weed.. but have tried it a few times and see nothing wrong with it at all.. i laughed and ate alot! lol.. This is a plant grown naturally that has proven benefits proven by scientists and your going to ruin this kids life??
De criminalize, tax and regulate it you morons! Think how much money can be put in the economy through doing this.. or does the government make more the way it is? Put restrictions such as age limit, lets say 18 – 21.. can only purchase and carry a certain amount.. lets say 8 grams and can only smoke in ones private property..
Oh by the way kid, when your on trial, before you get the verdict thats going to ruin ur life.. Ask the court about the case just LAST WEEK.. when they let that kid off cause he had a good job.. which i believe he was caught with the same plant but MORE of it and got off.. These idiots running this country better wake up real fast.. we should all be protesting this bullsh!tt!
I still do not understand why everyone is blaming the law and the US.
I agree the laws/punishments are very draconian and over bearing for just a bit of weed.
bbut this was not just weed..it was distributing at school…. does that not strike a nerve with everyone that has a child?
This kid is 18. Whether we feel the laws are unfair is irrelevant. He knows the consequences and he broke the law anyway.
Bermuda legal system/USA are not ruining this mans life… this man did it too himself. Is it unfortunate and too harsh? yes!. Does that give him the right to go and break the law? Absolutely not. If we think its too harsh we need to have the law amended, not just intentionally ignore it.
But let’s get back to my question–why is that the vast majority of those in court for ‘pot’ young black males when I repeat, we ALL are fully aware that blacks, whites, rich, poor,young, old, blue collar, white collar,professional and non professional, indulge?
For these children to be partaking of such on school property they should be lashed. And at 18 yrs old, if he’s selling weed today, in a year or two he’ll be selling crack, cocaine, ecstasy or maybe heroine. For all of you that think its just a little bit of weed wait until he becomes the next statistic..