This is absurd: Isle of Man newspapers has reported that a man was arrested, prosecuted, and convicted, for possessing “0.25 grams of cannabis.”
A quarter of a gram is roughly equal to one-sixteenth of a teaspoon of sugar.
This is not an effective use of court, police or taxpayer resources:
The prosecutor told the court that police were at the address of a friend of Cowin on September 18 last year when Cowin arrived and was searched with officers finding 0.25 grams of cannabis, valued at £5.
Defence advocate Stephen Wood said: ’It was a very small amount of cannabis valued using the increased street value the authorities are currently using. Mr Cowin had fallen out with his partner and went to a friend’s address. Three officers jumped out from behind a bush and put him to the ground.
£100 fine for having £5 cannabis