Skip to content

B.C. police issue ticket to teen rolling a joint

$230 ticket the first cannabis fine for Vancouver Island community
14163288_web1_181029-OBN-M-181029-OBN-cannabis-ticket
Oak Bay Police issue their first cannabis ticket on Oct. 28, 2018. (OakBayPolice/Twitter)

Oak Bay Police Department, a community near Victoria, issued its first cannabis ticket Sunday night to a driver rolling a joint.

According to police, the $230 ticket was given to a minor, for operating a vehicle with cannabis in it.

“The individual was not smoking it, he was rolling it,” said Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties. “Most concerning is he was likely going to drive away under influence had he not been checked by police.”

An individual can’t operate, or be in care and control of, a vehicle which has cannabis readily available to the driver, explained Bernoties.

READ MORE: Puff, puff, pass: Cannabis is officially legal across Canada

READ MORE: 10 things still illegal in the new age of recreational cannabis

“Impaired driving kills people,” Bernoties said. “Why can’t we learn that?”

According to the federal government, impaired driving is the leading criminal cause of death and injury in Canada. In 2016, there were more than 70,000 impaired driving incidents reported by the police, including almost 3,000 drug-impaired driving incidents.


 
flavio.nienow@oakbaynews.com

Follow us on Instagram Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.