Rock legend Rick Bryant jailed for drugs

New Zealand blues and rock legend Rick Bryant has been jailed for two years for possession of cocaine and ecstasy and dealing cannabis.

Bryant, 63, has a 30-year history in bands including Rick Bryant and the Jive Bombers, The Jubilation Gospel Choir, Blerta, and the Windy City Strugglers.

He was caught on February 23 with 400g of cannabis, small amounts of cannabis oil, ecstasy and cocaine, and $4000 cash, which he admitted was the proceeds from dealing cannabis.

Police searched his central Auckland house and found four cake tins filled with cannabis that had been graded so the customer could decide which quality to buy.

In an office, police found 0.3g of cocaine in a tobacco tin, four ecstasy pills in a tea cup and 12g of cannabis resin in the freezer.

Under his real name, Donald Richard Bryant, he pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court to possession of the drugs and possession of cannabis for sale.

Prosecutor Evan McCaughan said Bryant's house was protected by a CCTV set-up which was inconsistent with his admissions of low-level drug dealing to friends over the past two years.

The $4000 was a "substantial amount to have squirrelled away", McCaughan said.

Bryant had 14 previous convictions for drugs though they were old matters stretching from 1973 to 1999.

Defence lawyer Paul Wicks said there was no evidence Bryant had dealt to anyone other than friends.

There was "modest commerciality" but Bryant had been candid with police that the dealing was only to help out friends and "make ends meet".

He was a long-term cannabis user who used the drug to manage chronic pain he experienced.

Wicks said the cocaine and ecstasy were used infrequently and had been in his house for a long time.

His problem was with cannabis and he would undertake counselling if he was given home detention.

Wicks presented references describing Bryant's "extraordinary amount" of charitable contribution.

He had performed at least one charity concert per year since the 1970s and had recently participated in charity concerts for the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

Justice Lang took a starting point of three years, one month in prison.

He said he was sceptical of Bryant's claim that he would rehabilitate.

With discounts for his early guilty plea, his charitable work and moves toward drug rehabilitation, the sentence was adjusted down to two years.

He declined to impose home detention and ordered a final sentence of two years in prison.