PIQUED by the overpowering scent of ganja permeating the Supreme Court building in downtown Kingston in recent days, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes Thursday questioned how prisoners in the court’s holding area got access to ignitors, which he said could provide an opening for the accused to torch the building.

“We have to look into this. As far as I know people don’t snap their fingers and the ganja burst into flames. It means somebody down there has access to a naked flame, lighter, or matches. I don’t think it’s flintstones they are rubbing down there and hope that it sparks, which really means the stage is now set for somebody to set fire down there,” the chief justice said prior to resuming the afternoon portion of his summation in the infamous Klansman Gang trial at the court in downtown Kingston.

“That’s what that means, and if a fire starts down there you have not just these defendants but all the other persons who may be in the holding area. What is going to happen at that time? So we have to come to grips with this,” the judge told the police officer overseeing the prisoners for that case.

“Something really has to happen. I don’t know why we seem to be hosting the biggest ganja-smoking session in the entire Jamaica. In the afternoons, if you want to smoke weed you just come to the Supreme Court and they will accommodate you because it is permeating the whole building,” an obviously upset Justice Sykes said.

“In addition to that, you have court users who may have asthma, they may have lung-related issues and so the court is a workspace and it’s not just lawyers but police officers as well, because this is where they spend the entire working day, those who are assigned to the courts. So we can’t have a situation where people feel as if they want to have a puff, they just come down to the Supreme Court and they are free as a bird to just smoke away. It can’t be,” he said.

“Very well, Milord, I will speak with my supervisor,” the police officer replied.

— Alicia Dunkley-Willis