Joshua Charles Coates in Coffs Court after drug driving bust

A Mid-North Coast support worker faced a conundrum in court after a magistrate said “if you have a prescription for medicinal cannabis that just means your use is legal” — not that you can drive.

A support worker has been convicted in Coffs Harbour local court for driving under the influence of an illicit substance - despite it being for medicinal purposes.

A Mid-North Coast support worker faced a conundrum in court after a magistrate said “if you have a prescription for medicinal cannabis that just means your use is legal” — not that you can drive.

“If you continue using medicinal cannabis you cannot drive,” Magistrate Julia Virgo told Joshua Charles Coates, 33, in Coffs Harbour Local Court this week.

The court heard the support worker uses his license for work and wished to continue working, despite being prescribed medicinal cannabis after suffering a sustained back injury while playing football in his “junior years”.

Joshua Charles Coates outside Coffs Harbour court on 18 March 2025.

The offence occurred on August 29 last year and is the second time the support worker faced court for driving with an illicit substance in his blood.

“I’ll have to try and find alternative methods if it keeps getting me into trouble,” he told the court.

Coates is a support worker who wished to continue his occupation.

Ms Virgo told Coates to see his general practitioner and “give up the medicinal cannabis but under the doctor’s supervision”.

“And if the doctor says no you shouldn’t give it up – you need to stop driving,” she said.

Coates pleaded guilty in Coffs Harbour Local Court on Tuesday and received a conditional release order for a period of 12 months with no conviction recorded.

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Originally published as Joshua Charles Coates in Coffs Court after drug driving bust