Drug-affected truckie told police he smoke ice hours roadside test

Stress and grief were to blame for a young man’s slide into experimenting with dangerous drugs. But his lawyer said their experience has scared him straight

Brandon Craig Drummond plead guilty to driving while drug-affected.

Stress and grief were offered as excuses for why a Cambooya man got behind the wheel of a B-double truck while drug-affected.

Brandon Craig Drummond, 27, faced the Toowoomba Magistrates Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing dangerous drugs, one of possessing restricted drugs, one of possessing drug utensils and one of drugged driving.

Police prosecutor Jessica Lynch said police intercepted Drummond for a roadside drug test as he drove along the Leichhardt Highway, about 2pm on February 8.

“He made admissions that there were drug items inside the truck,” she said.

Police found a glass pipe, clip seal bags containing 0.5 grams of methamphetamine, 1.5 grams of amphetamine and about 80 tablets of a prescription drug.

“He stated that he had smoked ice about 7am on the day that he was stopped by police, but that he was not affected by the drug while speaking with police,” she said.

For the defence, solicitor Amber Acreman said Drummond had consumed drugs to cope with stress and depression arising from the death of a close friend and both his mother and pet developing cancers.

Citing his clean criminal history, Ms Acreman added that the offending was out of character for her client.

“He has experimented with some substances and paid the price,” she said.

Magistrate Graham Lee fined Drummond $800 for all offences, disqualified him from holding a driver’s licence for three months, with no conviction recorded.