A 16-year-old boy and a friend got the idea to order cannabis-infused gummies online and sell them in school, but another boy got sick, and it landed the pair in hot water.
As a result, the friend had been previously convicted and sentenced to a $900 fine, and the 16-year-old boy had his fate decided last week in Estevan Provincial Court.
On Jan. 15, a boy got sick in a washroom at Estevan Comprehensive School. Cannabis gummies were found in a locker, according to Estevan Police Service Const. Jeff Fry. They were reportedly being sold for $15 each.
A charge was laid under the Cannabis Control Act for the two boys involved. (People under the age of 18 cannot be identified in the press in accordance to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.)
Defence attorney Joelle Graham said her client was with the person who got sick. “He could have booked it,” she said, but he didn’t, and remained with the sick person.
She noted her client struggled after he was expelled, but he is on track to graduate and has been involved in a sport.
He and his friend found a website, purchased the gummies and tried to make money on it, she explained. However, if they had sold all of the gummies and not used any themselves, the maximum profit they would have made would have been only $150 each.
The maximum fine is $2,000 for this sort of offence, but Graham noted the boy doesn’t have any source of income. She asked for a $300 to $500 fine as a “sufficient deterrent.”
“With the change in legislation, people aren’t certain what the parameters are,” Graham said. “This is all over school, people know what happened.”
Fry said he would prefer a $900 fine, adding, “There’s always fine options.”
Judge Michelle Brass first asked if a student had indeed gotten sick, and this was confirmed.
“This is one of those cases that is grey right now because the legislation has changed,” Brass said.
She noted he’s 16, with no record, and in school, so a reduced fine would be appropriate. However, she stated, “A $300 fine is not a deterrent.”
She went for a $600 fine with a $180 victim impact surcharge, and gave the boy eight months to pay the total of $780.
On Sept. 16, the mother of the previously-convicted boy contacted the Mercury and said that he had actually had a $600 fine and $180 victim impact surcharge, not a $900 one. She added that he had worked it off through fine options, doing outside maintenance.
