After receiving a tip he was selling drugs in North Ward, Greensboro Police arrested 19-year-old Joel Brown on charges of possession of marijuana with the intent to sale Monday afternoon.

Police had arrested Brown previously on drug-related charges as a minor, police chief Claude Hamilton said, so this isn’t his first run in with the law.

“When we arrested him the last time, I tried to get him to stop,” Hamilton said, “but he refused to. We’ve been continuously checking the North Ward and we’ve been watching activity in that area for a while.”

Once police had Brown in custody, officers found 18 single bags of marijuana, worth approximately $20 each, and approximately $271 cash.

Hamilton said police are still keeping an eye out for drugs in the area and will always work hard to keep illegal substances off the streets.

“It’s not easy to make these arrests. If it were, we wouldn’t be the only ones doing it. This stuff takes time, but we are concentrating on the situation. If we can solve the drug problem here, we can solve all our problems because drugs cause so many problems in the area,” Hamilton said. “And if I can utilize other agencies such as the ABI and the Drug Task Force to clean up Hale County and Greensboro, I will do it. These agencies are there to help us when we need it, and we need to use them.”