A man who claimed “internet research” led him to believe he could legally drive with medically prescribed cannabis in his system has failed to convince a magistrate.
The man was stopped by police on Watkinson Street in Devonport in June 2023 and subjected to an oral fluid test, which returned a positive result for THC.
He was subsequently charged with driving a motor vehicle with an illicit drug present in his oral fluid.
In court, the man admitted to consuming THC before driving. He said the cannabis had been prescribed by a practitioner in Victoria and mailed to him in Tasmania.
He said he had self-administered the cannabis earlier that day to aid with sleep and believed he was not experiencing any of THC’s’ primary effects when he began driving.
He also told the court that he had based his understanding of the legalities surrounding medicinal cannabis use and driving on information from an internet chat forum.
He believed it was lawful to drive as long as he was not ‘under the influence’.
The magistrate, in their recent published comments, rejected the man’s argument, saying his belief “was wrong” and the mistake “was one of law alone”.
“[He] said he gained his knowledge concerning driving with lawfully prescribed THC in his body from an internet chat forum rather than from a legal practitioner or other proper authority,” they said.
“As such, I find he could not reasonably rely upon said information as the basis for his mistaken belief.”
