Nelson Bascome Jr., the son of ruling party MP and former Health Minister Nelson Bascome, has been sent to prison for one year.

In a judgment delivered yesterday, Appeal Court Judges quashed a probation sentence handed down last December, agreeing with the Crown that imprisonment was a more appropriate sentence.

Bascome, 24 of Friswell's Hill, Pembroke, had received three years' probation for importing marijuana worth more than $11,000.

The former Howard University student was caught at the airport after taking a flight from Philadelphia on December 18, 2002.

He had 0.8 grams of marijuana in his wallet and 226.8 grams of cannabis strapped to his body.

Crown Counsel Vinette Graham-Allen told the court that it was not likely that Bascome had the drugs for personal use because he had told airport authorities that the drugs were his and that he planned to sell them wholesale to a friend.

The Court of Appeal judgement said that probation was not appropriate because Bascome had argued that he had a right to use cannabis and that the importation was more than likely for financial gain.

"The reasons given by the learned judge for imposing probation rather than a custodial sentence in this case assert there was no evidence of a financial/commercial aspect to it," reads the ruling.

"However, the amount of cannabis imported would seem to suggest such a motive on the respondent's part, rather than a mere intention to import a supply for his own use. Too little weight was given to the previously decided cases and the learned judge proceeded upon the mistaken belief that they were no longer relevant to the decision.

"No case was cited to us in which an offender who imported a similar quantity of cannabis, or was found in possession of it with intent to supply, escaped an immediate custodial sentence."

The ruling added that probation as a rehabilitative measure was not appropriate because of Bascome's advocacy of the drug.

"The respondent has maintained his belief that despite what the law says, he has a right to use cannabis. It is unlikely, therefore, that probation would be effective," the judgement reads.

Hearing the appeal were Appeal Court president Edward Zacca, former Chief Justice Austin Ward and former Attorney General Gerald Collett.

The Crown had appealed Bascome's sentence saying it was too lenient, and that while Bascome had pleaded guilty to drug importation and had no previous convictions the chances of reoffending were high because he had shown no remorse in his social inquiry report and had argued that using the drug should not be illegal.

Bascome later tested positive for the drug despite attending a drug treatment facility.

Yesterday's judgement also ruled that changes to the Criminal Code in support of the Alternatives to Incarceration program me could not have been intended to restrict courts' discretion when it came to sentencing.

"If it had been the intention of the Legislature to deprive the Courts of their long established discretion to tailor sentences in individual cases to the facts and circumstances of the case at bar, subject only to the maximum limits prescribed by statute law, we should have expected much clearer language to have been employed than is apparent from the new Section 53 of the Criminal Code," the judgement stated.