A 31-year-old man caught with a foil twist of heroin told Magistrates' Court he had turned a new leaf and wanted to better his life.

Clifford Rawlins had earlier admitted possessing 0.01 grams of heroin on March 9 yesterday he said was ready to put past mistakes behind him.

"I have made some bad decisions in my youth and since then I have made a conscious effort to better my life and I am now working and I would just like to move forward.

"Since April I have been doing the right thing. I have no conviction up to this date and this is my last matter your honour and I would just like to move forward," he said.

The court heard Rawlins, of Pembroke, was stopped by police on Angle Street at 2.10pm after committing a traffic offence.

The officers could see he was fidgeting with his back pants pocket and searched him under the Misuse of Drugs Act. They found a foil twist containing an off-white powder substance and seized the material along with some drug equipment.

According to the prosecutor, Rawlins had other convictions of a similar nature and was in possession of cocaine in 2006. Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner fined him $1,000 and gave him until December 19 to pay.