A Summary Court magistrate has given Phillip Sweet of the Little Big Town band an absolute discharge after he pleaded guilty to bringing 11 medicinal cannabis gummies into Cayman.
The country music band had flown into Cayman on a private jet from Nashville, Tennessee, on the afternoon of 13 Dec., to play at a Christmas party at The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa, the court heard.
Sweet, 51, who made a court appearance on Tuesday, 13 Jan., via video link from Tennessee, pleaded guilty to a charge of importation of a controlled drug – gummies containing cannabis compound THC.
The court heard that Customs and Border Control officers found the gummies, labelled ‘Hometown Hero’, in three separate packages inside Sweet’s brown leather backpack. He was cautioned and arrested.
When questioned by the officers, he indicated he had thought it was legal to bring the gummies with him into Cayman because of the small quantity of THC they contained, the court was told.
His doctor had recommended that Sweet take the over-the-counter gummies to ease the chronic pain from his rheumatoid arthritis, and the court was provided with a letter from his physician.
Sweet’s attorney, Prathna Bodden, told Chief Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez that this was her client’s first visit to Cayman, and that he was only coming to the island for 24 hours to play at The Westin.
She said that, due to the festive holiday period and the fact that the testing laboratory was closed, Sweet had been permitted to travel back home to the US.
She said his doctor had noted in his letter that Sweet’s rheumatoid arthritis required “ongoing management and long-term care” and that the musician takes the gummies for therapeutic pain relief and maintain his quality of life.
She asked the judge, in reaching a verdict, to take into account that Sweet is a musician who travels throughout America and the world and asked that no conviction be recorded as this may “jeopardise the remaining years of his career and the work that he does”.
Bodden described Sweet as being “very remorseful” and said he had learned a “very strong lesson”.
In delivering her verdict, Hernandez said, “Unfortunately, you found yourself in this position. I accept what has been stated. I accept the letter from your physician. I take it that [the gummies were] for purely medicinal reasons.”
She added, “You answered to your bail by video link … which some people would not have, and I thank you for that in these very unusual circumstances.”
The magistrate stated that in these “extenuating circumstances”, she was ordering that no conviction be recorded and she gave him an absolute discharge.
Sweet was ordered to pay costs of $2,200 within 22 days.
Sean Hocking
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