MoBay Drug Court opens with four cases

By Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE MONTEGO Bay Drug Court opened yesterday afternoon with the first four cases facing a tribunal of a Resident Magistrate and two Justices of the Peace.

The Drug Court Act which was passed in 1999, seeks to provide help for persons who have run afoul of the law while being addicted to hard drugs.

Morris Clarke, Devon Blake, Winston Scarlet and Neville Daley all accepted the offer to go into rehabilitation and are to return to court next Thursday when the court will be told if they qualify for the programme.

Resident Magistrate Ms. Paulette Williams who presided over the sitting, told the four men the programme was put in place to try to help them. She stressed however that the programme could work only if they wanted to be helped.

The men all signed a document signalling their willingness to take part in the programme and will see a government psychiatrist next week when it will be decided if they qualify for help.

In an informal discussion after the sitting, Ms. Williams called for help from the community as she said the persons involved in the programme would all need help. She pointed out that all four men who had faced the court were homeless and said it would be a challenge trying to keep track of them.

The City Spirit Foundation, she said, was involved with the programme as their facilities would be used for the interviews.

All four men who faced the court were charged with various crimes including shop-breaking and larceny and it was discovered that they were all addicted to cocaine.

Two of the four, Clarke and Scarlet, were deportees from the United States and Canada, respectively.

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