Smiths Parish Man Denies Cultivating Cannabis
In Magistrates Court yesterday [Feb 26], Smith’s Parish resident Makki Talbot-Foote, 26, pleaded not guilty to three charges involving the possession, cultivation, and possession of equipment intended for use with an illegal drug.
The charges were that on 27th October 2012, in Smith’s Parish, he possessed the illegal drug cannabis; was cultivating cannabis plants; and possessed equipment fitted and intended for use in connection with the illegal drug.
The Crown Prosecutor alleged that there were eight seedlings and 13.47 grams involved. Senior Magistrate Archie Warner set bail at $5,000, required a surety in the same amount, and set trial for 4th June 2013. Talbot-Foote was represented by lawyer Elizabeth Christopher.
Read More About
Category: All, Court Reports, Crime, News
Honestly ya ahnah, It wozent minz. I was in de green house becoz i woz gowin parsley romsemary and tyme for when my momma cooks. I was juss ther until my bredrin came back.
Alright son, let this be a lesson to you, now be on your way..
@ Joonya: Sounds exactly what Warner will do!
If guilty, Warner is more likely to give him an ultimatum of a $10,000 fine or prison hoping that he will chose the fine so Warner can make the justice systems pockets fatter.
And id tell him stuff it and house me for more money than I’ve ever made in a year in my life. Locking people up for growing plants smh.
Like every sector in the economy, Bermuda needs to get up to speed with the rest of the world and stop putting Marijuana on such a pedestal. By taking it away we unconsciously increase the leverage and power that the gangbangers have. The livelihoods that literally depend on the cash crop (i.e. gangbangers) will find a way to get it in and when they do, they can charge X amount more. This is economics 101, when demand outweighs supply the power and price ceiling will be dictated by those with X amount of supply (i.e. gangbangers). Our economy is at an all time low yet our gang activity is booming and to boom you need money, think about it.
Just legalize, regulate and tax the stuff already Bermy. The regulate part would apply to where and how you could cultivate your own, safely. Wake up and smell the ganga.
As it becomes legal in more open minded locales, think of the EXPORT opportunities for Bermuda. Branded as Bermuda Turquoise Gold, it could be Bermuda’s next big opportunity. Why not, really?
because no one here yet has the knowledge and skills to produce anything near what the standards are in Canada, US, UK and Europe. Had some local stuff the other day, but still taste like bush weed.
You know this for fact? I guess the the weed fairies came and swapped out my bush tree for some raw and it wasn’t even a name brand seed…before anyone says it I burned that evidence years ago.
lets talk commercial for-profit-guys. Yes there are some great growers im sure who choose not to fund criminals, i commend you. But those who are in it for profit so far have shown they can’t grow worth a damn. northern lights going around last year was big and buddy, yeh great, just the a$$hole who grew it didnt flush it, was full of chems and gave you a massive headache.
those countries that u mentioned are genetically modifying to produce hybrids…they are on a mission …they are not ya regular draw seekers…sure we all would like mercedes or a bemer…but my toyota can hang right up there if u catch my drift…Dont legalize for people that just want to get high …legalize for the responsible people that need some relief from the stress of survival here…NOT all Bermudians love to DRINK!
The hybrids are not genetically modified in some frankenstein lab type of way they are just cross pollinated with other strains till the right combination is produced. This is the same way tangelos & other hybrid fruits come about nothing unnatural about this unless someone has some sort of plant racist view. Most of the hybrid seeds are either coming from medical marijuana creators, marc emery or Dutch seed shops non of which do anything that will harm the end user.
What scary is the synthetic cannabis companies that have come about due to the legality of cannabis. That stuff causes seizures & death.
if it is a hybrid then the molecular structure is not complete as God created it, therefore it is something “unnatural”…big differences just like the other hybrid fruits and vegetables that you may think are nutritious…i’ve read your books tommy …now you should read mine.
please don’t bring god into this..if god was real there wouldnt be so many shootings on this island. Why? Well lets put it plain and simple. If you have a shooting one day, people pray for no more then there is a murder the next day due to shootings…then either we are praying to the wrong god or he doesn’t exist..and no i’m not basing this on the past few months i’m basing this on the past decade!
High strength marijuana is not unnatural. If you were to leave a kush plant with a haze plant in a garden, one being male the other female, you will get a hybrid. Its not humans faults that nature can breed so ingeniously and complex.
like i told tommy …ive read your books …maybe you should read mines…NOTHING IN NATURE CROSS POLLINATES….only if man has a hand in it. Does a pink oleander cross pollinate with a white…NO..unless man has done his deeds…you all think that you can improve on what God creates..? and as for your prayers statement tsk tsk…if you were well versed in your creators existence you would know and understand that He is not answering prayers right now…He gave you life and an instruction booklet on how to have everlasting life…this life is your test as to whether you are worth keeping…does your examiner answer your requests when you are in an exam..? Im gonna stop here…jus useless.
So the media releases d weedies names but not the pedofiles and rapists names??
We don’t withhold names by choice, it’s the law.
I thinks it says “charged with” not “found guilty of” next to that persons name.. Maybe they can release a list of the people found guilty of those egregious offenses. It would be nice to know if my neighbor used force on somebody to get what they wanted…. As far as I know herb is used as a commodity for trade, material and medicine for centuries.
It would be nice to see a “modern” society like Bermuda come up with a solution to allow responsible adults to use this plant and not be made into criminals.
its your site though..surely you can choose whether or not to publish a persons name. Does the law really state that you HAVE to give us a name? I’d rather hear the names of dangerous people. Which brings me to this question..how can we publish the name, and inadvertently ruin this man’s life, when we still don’t know who was picked up and released on bail for the double murder? even if they didn’t do it, i’d like to know because BPS doesn’t pick up a random person..they look through their data base of known criminals in that area and then follow leads on certain individuals. If we want to get serious on our gangs we need to start naming and shaming those for actual crimes so we can weed out (no pun) these little shites.
Sure we can choose not to publish the name and often have, which actually draws even more complaints. Feel free to check back in the archives when we print things with no names, we get accused of all sorts, from racism to taking payoffs.
Whatever decision is made about any matter, there will be objections as it’s impossible have tens of thousands of people agree on every point.
I hope the comments haven’t come accross as a personal shot against bernews.. It was meant in the broad spectrum of the things done on a regular basis. A good story is a controversial one yes.. He “may have” broke the current law but until proven guilty at least….. We live in a small community and this issue can make an individual a target.. People here a little and think a lot
im sorry..how the f$%# can you weigh seedlings and determine thats a drug? You can’t get stoned off a sprout..damn what a waste of tax payers money….shame we dont have to do our taxes ourselves.. because i would not be filing mine!
on another note, was this inside cultivation or outside?
my bad…there was a separate half ounce..till seedlings, jeez, should just ripped them out. Seriously to any grower getting their plants ripped out is more than enough punishment as you wasted all the hard work and money put into it…a fine or jail sentence is just going to allow him time to think and reflect on how not to get caught next time.
LEGALISE so we don’t have to keep filling our court rooms with minor drug offences, when Golsings and Burrows Lightbourne are profiting from the carnage on Bermudas roads and in bars.
$5000 bail! i just read that a guy got probation for stabbing someone, and this young man is being made a criminal for 8 SEEDLINGS! and a 1/2 oz come on something wrong here. Goslings and Burrows Lightbourne cause far more damage in this country than herb by far,ask any alcoholic’s family!!
lost a family member (well his mind)to alcohol. Suffers from Korsakoff Syndrome, look it up…cannabis will never cause anything that severe..EVER. Just wish i could seen the old man smokin herb rather than a 6-pack of 2/11 in the morning…
I also lost a family member to alcohol sad thing is they looked down on some of their coworkers who smoked herb. Not the family members fault for their prejudice they were just old school brainwashed through propaganda. What is even sadder is that they have past on but the ones that they looked down on for smoking herb are still healthy & living. I don’t wish the others had past instead of my loved one as I wouldn’t wish that on anyone for their personal choices of consumption. I just wish they had realized what they were doing was far worse even though society condones it over the other. They didn’t start drinking until they got home after work but doing that everyday was still enough to send them to their eternal slumber.
My tax dollars are being wasted on this? Police, please, go harass and arrest dangerous gangsters that are destroying Bermuda.
Eight seedlings and a half ounce of weed? Seriously? Police go do something that actually helps reduce crime…
This is obviously for personal use… he is not fuelling gang activity… he is doing nothing except growing some marijuana for his personal use…
And look at Archie… $5000 bail for personal weed while an attempted murderer gets 2 year probation for stabbing another teen and puncturing his lung… go figure
huh = idiot
jon = a willy
I’m an idiot because I prefer my tax dollars being used to catch guys with guns as opposed to guys with plants? Ok… that makes sense… you are right
Only in Bermuda can you get away with murder and get $5000 bail for a few seedlings, and then will get a sentence of some kind, sad state of affairs
Please legalize so I can stop paying these thugs money for sh*t weed. I DO NOT want to fund their trashy lifestyles anymore. I’d rather help get bermuda out of debt and continue on my way.
Thanks!
Every element in the Universe is made up of hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. The only difference between marijuana and Parsely is their binding properties. You can not legislate or criminalize atoms.There is a chemical produced by the Brain called DMT and is even produce by cut grass that you mow. Are they going to criminalize us for mowing the lawn or naturally producing DMT? This war on drugs for over thirty years is the biggest scam next to the Federal Reserve and IRS that America has produced.
are you kidding me.
this island is a joke.
wait until all the old geezers are out of here. the ones who think marijuana is like crack and all the other drugs.
when are we going to have a smart, ethical, money saving government with a PREMIER THAT CAN DRIVE HIS OWN BLOODY CAR. serious, craig, youre not obama. you wanna save all this money for Bermuda, start with yourself and then legalise or at least decriminalize.
How the f–k does a piece of sh– who stabbed someone get probation. I wonder how much his bail was.
how can you have the same, or even worse punishments for stabbing someone and having itty bitty seedlings.
I really feel for this man. The police probably entered his house as if he had tons of herion and a nuclear warhead.
“The police probably entered his house as if he had tons of herion and a nuclear warhead.” – Sounds like quite a party
“DO.WE.HAVE.A.PROBLEM?!”
yes, prohibition, and the large amount of heroin and crack reportedly flooding our streets at the moment; whilst the BPS is on a moral high horse for busting the dangerous cannabis plant only because a majority of the population us it.
Since when they can charge you with seedlings? can you prove a seedling is marijuana growing?? i think d law is after a plant reaches a certain height they can charge you. They cant prove d mon was growing marijuana if they found seedlings.
I can smoke a j drop d seeds on the ground and a seeding will appear! After the seedling stage the can book you with cultivating!!
the only illegal substance here is thc….they should test and see the level of thc in the plants and prosecute as required…but
He was allegedly holding it for a friend… Hey it worked for a wannabe politian..
That only works for wannabe politicians & prison graduate lawyers not the average joe.
Since there is the same amount of THC in cannabis seedlings as there is in the hemp cereals & other hemp products I wonder why bps isn’t criminally charging the owners of the grocery stores & health food shops that bring in the hemp products like they have done this guy.
How can the police arrest dude 4 dat when its not even cannabis yet?in that form all it is is hemp and wont get any1 high if dude has a good lawyer he could get off
Government cracking down on small businesses again.
wonder how many politicians follow these threads for drugs? Clearly the citizens are speaking out against the governments archaic ways of handling such petty things…
Remember: drugs kill, but so do politicians.
ooooooooooo no i have a shirt madeout of hemp. i wonder if there gonna kick my door down. lol
If guilty, he shoulda been down Somerset…deep in the Economic Empowerment zone..that way he could have argued he is empowering himself to build for a brighter furture, can’t argue with that, especially when Squire and Boat Club sell sh!t loads of legal highly dangerous drugs.
This island is a waste the amount of money wasted on imprisoning people for weed. We could create a cannabis cup here and call it an islanders cup and earn millions of dollars in profit just for a couple of days of smoking. Who wouldn’t want to smoke a spliff on the beach.