Yo, check this out – a homie out in Bermuda straight up swallowed over 110 grams of hash to dodge them drug charges, but the po-po just waited for that hash to come out the other end while they took him to the hospital for drug tests. They counted a total of 53 “pellets” of hash that passed through his body. It’s a word to the wise for all y’all thinking about hitting up any of them 181 islands of Bermuda, ya dig?
So, this dude Kenneth Butterfield, 45 years old, copped to importing that controlled substance into Bermuda when he showed up in Magistrates’ Court. Originally, he was looking at charges of possession with intent to supply, but they dropped that charge.
Butterfield laid it down in court that he came back to the island from the U.K. on Feb. 16, 2023 and got busted after he straight up refused to get X-rayed by customs at L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda.
They hauled Butterfield over to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for a drug test to see if he had cannabis in his system. While he was there, my man passed 44 pellets and slipped out eight more the next night. Collectively, that was 110.76 grams of hash, or what they call “cannabis resin” in them parts.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Cindy Clarke, said that hash had a fat street value and could fetch over $11,000 on Bermuda’s streets if sold by the ounce – over $22,000 by the gram and more than $12,000 by the quarter-ounce. (Just so you know, a Bermuda dollar is worth the same as a U.S. dollar.)
Magistrate Maria Sofianos said they gotta put together some reports on Butterfield, who’s got priors for similar stuff, and pushed the case back to March 28, 2024 for my boy’s sentencing.
Butterfield is looking at doing time next month, and they told him he gotta hand over all his travel papers and dropped him on a $25,000 bail with one surety until then.
Another homie got busted bringing that cannabis resin (aka hash) onto the island back in 2022.
Tahva Virgil, 28 years old, showed up in court in May 2023 and denied bringing hash and another substance with THC into the island in February 2022. The prosecutor said that hash was worth an estimated $42,000 to $56,000. Senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson put a pin in the case for later and cut Mr. Virgil loose on $25,000 bail.
Over in them parts, if you’re holding more than 7 grams of cannabis, you’re looking at doing a stretch behind bars.
Word on the street is that even if you’re holding less than 7 grams of that green, your spot or ride might get searched if the cops suspect you’re into other dirt like trying to deal or other shady moves.
Bermuda tried to make moves to legalize that adult-use cannabis game but hit some speed bumps because they’re still under British rule.
In September 2022, those Brits shut down Bermuda’s attempt to get their cannabis legalization bill off the ground.
The Royal Gazette reported that on Sept. 6, 2022, Bermuda Governor Rena Lalgie got told by the United Kingdom Foreign Secretary not to give royal assent to the Cannabis Licensing Bill because it wasn’t lining up with them international agreements on drugs. Lalgie said they wanna keep working with Bermuda within those boundaries.
When they shut down Bermuda’s bill on weed, things got tense between Bermuda and the U.K., according to media reports.
Back in ’84, Paul McCartney caught a case out in Bermuda when they found weed in a film canister – but he only had to drop a hundred bucks.
Last October, business cats Kim Caisey and Rickai Robinson launched up the Bermuda Cannabis Association (BCA), which is supposed to be like a watchdog group for the cannabis scene on that island. They’re talking about trying to keep things professional and ethical in the cannabis game out there.
So watch yourself if you’re thinking about getting your smoke on out in Bermuda – these cats ain’t playing around when it comes to them laws on weed!