Drug Court is for addicts - not users, Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves said yesterday.

Mr. Greaves was answering a request from defence lawyer Llewellyn Peniston (pictured) that a man pleading guilty to cocaine possession be considered for Drug Court.

Jabari Ebbin, 24, of Tribe Road Number 5 in Paget, was caught with the drug after Police, acting on a tip-off, went to the junction of the Tribe Road and Ord Road in Paget on May 20.

They saw about 15 youths, including Ebbin, who came towards them demanding they search him because he had nothing on him.

However, when Police officers took a cell phone that Ebbin was holding from his hand, he dropped a brown paper twist that turned out to contain 0.2 grams of cocaine.

When Mr. Peniston asked if Mr. Greaves would consider sending Ebbin to Drug Court, Mr. Greaves asked if Ebbin was a drug addict. Mr. Peniston said he was not, and Mr. Greaves replied: "Drug Court is for addicts, not users."

He fined Ebbin $1,000 for being in possession of the drug and added another $1,000 for being in an increased penalty zone near to Paget Primary School.