MP Craig Garland fails roadside drug test

Independent MP for Braddon Craig Garland is expected to face charges after failing a police roadside drug test and being found in possession of cannabis. Here’s what he had to say.

Independent member for Braddon Craig Garland in Hobart after being elected to the Tasmanian parliament. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Independent MP for Braddon Craig Garland is expected to face charges after failing a police roadside drug test and being found in possession of cannabis.

Mr Garland said he was pulled over in Smithton last Friday on the way to a fishing trip.

He says an initial drug test proved positive, and police seized a small amount of cannabis from his vehicle.

“I wasn’t impaired. I wasn’t pulled over because it was all over the road,” he said.

“There was a blitz, and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“They put me on the breathalyser. I don’t drink and I told them that. Then they put me on the tongue scraper and came back and said that was positive.

“They asked me if I had any cannabis in the car. I had a tobacco pouch with some little sprinklings in it, there would have been a microgram in that.”

Craig Garland Independent member for Braddon. Parliament question time. Picture: Chris Kidd

The police procedure for testing drivers for the presence of illicit drugs involves an initial tongue swab. If this proves positive an oral fluid sample is taken for forensic testing.

Mr Garland said he had not heard the results from sample police took.

“If it comes back positive I expect I’ll be charged and have to go to court,” he said.

In a media release about a weekend road safety operation issued on Monday morning, Tasmania Police said a 60-year-old Boat Harbour man returned a positive drug test and quantities of a controlled substance were located in his vehicle.

It said he would be charged by summons.

Mr Garland said the details in the media release sounded like him.

He said he used cannabis recreationally — and to help with the symptoms of pain from old sporting injuries.

“I’m pretty well known in the community. Everybody knows I have a puff occasionally, it’s no big deal,” he said.

“I don’t smoke it every night, I don’t smoke it every day but when the need arises, I use it.

“Society has moved on. Lots of people in our community access or have tried to access it to improve their medical situation.

“The cop told me if I’d had a prescription I could have driven off.”

Question time in the Tasmanian Parliament, Independent member for Franklin David O'Byrne, Independent member for Braddon Craig Garland and Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff. Picture: Chris Kidd

Mr Garland said his only prior conviction was a drink driving charge in 1996 — when he drank too much alcohol after witnessing a violent assault.

Under the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act, a driver detected with an illicit drug in their blood faces a fine and the potential suspension of their driver’s licence.

Under the Misuse of Drugs Act, the possession of a controlled drug carried a potential maximum penalty of just over $10,000 or two years in jail.

Mr Garland was elected in the seat of Braddon as an independent at the March state election.

He is one of five independent MPs in the House of Assembly.

Tasmania’s Constitution Act contained provisions under which members of Parliament may be removed for misconduct.

Among them is if they are “convicted of any crime and is sentenced or subject to be sentenced to imprisonment for any term exceeding one year”.

Criminal lawyer Greg Barns has agreed to act for Mr Garland pro bono.

Originally published as MP Craig Garland fails roadside drug test