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Drug defendant high in courtjfiTwo-year term for 4heinous offence''A 25-year-old Shawnigan Lake man, wlio told county court Thursday he* was intoxicated from marijuana, was NenHEficed to two years m pen-jteniaary on drug charges.Larry Stuart Ross, formerly of 943 Esquimalt, was convicted by a jury of possession of cannabis resin for the purpose of trafficking and iossession of cannabis mari juana.'I’hc jury, which dei berated three hours and five minutes, cleared Ross of Ihe trafficking aspect of the marijuana indictment.Judge G. B. Ladner sentenced Ross, an unemployed male nurse, to two years on thp cannabis resin indictmentHand six months on the marijuana indictment, the terms to run concurrently.He said Ross gave no indication of any regret whatsoever in having broken Ihe lawand particularly in the way that: he has done it ,and contributing to this heinous offence,'*His attitude in the witness box made it appear he is quite self-righteous and there are very little, if any, redeeming features with respect 1o the accused, the judge said.He added that this is not as serious an offence as trafficking in other drugs. Rut the accused and others must know' that the courts will deal severely with this offence.mThe jury deliberated one hour in returning a finding of possession of both narcotics before the defence called evidence on the traffickingaspect.•Ross told the court he did not intend trafficking in either narcotic but had 1hem for his personal use.He said 10 bags of marijuana found in a suitcase in his storage locker belonged 1o him hut close to two pounds found in his apartment belonged to another man.He admitted buying half art ounce of hashish oil and paying 527!i for it.Ross, who admitted criminal convictions for possession of heroin in 1972 and theft under 5200 in 1972, said he had used cannabis resin since he was 19 l*it denied ever selling dings.Part-way through his cross-examination, crown counsel Malcolm McMicken suddenly asked him if he was intoxict-ed.Yes. replied Ross.You used marijuana today, McMicken asked.Yes, said Ross.Asked if there was a narcotics transaction going on in his apartment July 30 when police bursl in. Ross said there might have been some transactions going on. but not with me. I was sick in bed at the time all these people came over.”Ross was represented in court by Gordon Macdonald, who argued that his client wasn’t even sure how many vials of hash oil were in his apartment. This does not indicate a businessman who knows his inventory.Macdonald asked the jury if 11 made sense for Ross 1o use an old suitcase in a locker down the hall to sell his imarijuanai wares?
Newspaper Details
Victoria Daily Colonist
Victoria, British Columbia, CA
Fri, Jun 04, 1976
Page 49
Full Page
Clipped by
Jennifer P.
CA 28 Mar 2023
Other Publications Near Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria General Conference Daily Bulletin
Victoria Evening Telegraph
Victoria New Westminster Times and Vancouver Island Guardian
Victoria New Westminster Times
Victoria Vancouver Daily Standard
