Hospital reality check for addict

Cocaine addict Chaquan Taurell Shawniko Pilgrim will know in three weeks whether he qualifies for drug rehabilitation.

The 23-year-old, of Lot 200 Rendezvous Gardens, Christ Church was remanded to the Psychiatric Hospital until January 23 for observation after pleading guilty to having an apparatus in his possession for the misuse of the illegal drug.

He told Magistrate Douglas Frederick that he uses cocaine as a “means to escape from reality”.

The magistrate however pointed out that the drug had “landed you hard and right back to earth”.

Pilgrim responded: “At one point in time I got that escape that I wanted. I am trying to stop.”

His mother also addressed the court telling the magistrate that “I was struggling with him for the past three years. . . . I would like help for him.”

According to the prosecutor police were on patrol along Golf Club Road, Christ Church when they saw Pilgrim crossing a nearby street while fidgeting and acting suspiciously. He was approached and a search was requested to which he consented.

In his pocket was a hard, transparent plastic bottle with a hole at the top containing cocaine residue.