Bmda: He was high! high!! high!!!

The Crown began its appeal yesterday against the sentence given to the son of former Government Health Minister Nelson Bascome.

Nelson Coleridge Vernon Bascome received three years’ probation last December for importing marijuana worth more than $11,000 – despite prosecution pleas for a prison sentence.

The former Howard University student was caught at Bermuda International Airport after taking a flight from Philadelphia on December 18, 2002.

He had 0.8 grams of marijuana in his wallet and 226.8 grams of cannabis strapped to his body with a total street value of more than $11,000.

Crown counsel Vinette Graham-Allen said Bascome had told airport authorities the drugs were his and he planned to sell them wholesale to a friend. “The inference can be drawn it wasn’t for his personal use.”

Appeal Court judge Gerald Collett quipped: “Unless he was a very heavy smoker over a long period.”

At his trial Bascome, 24, of Friswell’s Hill, Pembroke, pleaded guilty to importation, but not guilty to being in possession of the controlled substance.

The charge of possession with intent to supply was ordered to remain on file. Although Bascome was of good character with no previous convictions Ms Graham-Allen said he showed no remorse for using the drug during his social inquiry report and had argued it should not be illegal.

She said: “The chances of re-offending are high.”

Bascome later tested positive for the drug despite attending a drug treatment facility – something he said he had done because he thought it would give him more leverage when he was sentenced.

No need to ask what this guy was smoking when he tried to enter Bermuda with ganja in his wallet and strapped to his body. The man just like the thing.