SINGER Denroy Morgan was fined $25 and given 90 days probation when he appeared in the US District Court in Manhattan last week.

Morgan had been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana in September. Police said they held him in the Bronx, New York, with 25 pounds of the weed.

According to a statement from Morgan's New York publicist, his lawyer Sabrina T Shroft, successfully argued that he had no intention to distribute the marijuana but planned to use it for spiritual purposes.

Morgan is a Rastafarian, many of whom say they use marijuana as a religious sacrament.

Shroft's appeal reduced Morgan's charge to a misdemeanour possession.

He was facing a maximum 25-year prison sentence.

The Clarendon-born Morgan has lived in the United States since the 1960s. He was part of the underground club scene in New York City during the 1970s.

He broke through in the summer of 1981 with the funk-influenced song, I'll Do Anything For You. Morgan is the father of the members of roots-reggae Morgan Heritage.