A MEMBER of the Seventh-DayAdventist faith, who spent his Sabbath smoking marijuana he found, appeared before a Port of Spain magistrate on Monday charged with possession of the illegal drug.

Dexter Benjamin appeared before Magistrate Andrew Stroude in the Tenth Court charged with possession of five grammes of marijuana.

Officers of the West End Police Station arrested Benjamin in Diego Martin around 1 p.m. on Saturday, after he was found smoking marijuana at the Blue Basin River. Benjamin, a construction worker, told Stroude he found the marijuana ’just lying there’ while he was walking down the staircase of his home earlier.

’In my past I did smoke marijuana, and it was calling out to me, so I decided to go with it,’ Benjamin admitted to Stroude.

Benjamin said he intended to smoke some of the drug and give away the rest. The scent of the drug he was smoking drew the patrolling police to him, the court heard. The offciers searched Benjamin and found the remainder of the drug hidden in a brown envelope.

Benjamin pleaded guilty to drug possession and was ordered to complete 80 hours of community service. If he does not complete the service in 12 months, he will be sentenced to ten days in jail.