Tasmanian MP Craig Garland pleads guilty to a drug-driving charge
A member of Tasmanian parliament, who is standing for re-election next month, has pleaded guilty to a drug-driving charge.
Craig Garland, who was elected as an independent for Braddon at the 2024 state election, appeared in the Burnie Magistrates Court on Thursday morning.
He was charged with one count of driving a motor vehicle whilst a prescribed illicit drug was present in his oral fluid — stemming from a positive roadside drug test.
In the context of the charge, the word "prescribed" refers to it being an illicit drug in Tasmanian legislation, not that it is a prescription drug.
Mr Garland, a former commercial fisherman, told ABC Radio in November last year that he had tested positive to a roadside test whilst on his way to go fishing at Montagu, in the state's north-west.
At the time, Mr Garland said he had used cannabis on and off for a long time — both recreationally and as pain relief. He said he had smoked cannabis the night before the test.
Mr Garland's lawyer Scott Ashby entered a guilty plea on his behalf, which magistrate Katie Edwards accepted.
The details of the offence were not read to the court as Mr Ashby sought a date later in the year for the matter to be finalised.
Magistrate Edwards adjourned the case for facts, sentence and a restricted licence application on September 15.
The maximum penalty for a first offence of the crime Mr Garland pleaded guilty to is a fine of 10 penalty units, which is currently $2,020; licence disqualification of 12 months; and a three-month jail term.
For offenders with a previous conviction, the penalties are doubled.
In certain circumstances, courts can grant offenders a restricted licence — for instance, if the loss of licence will impose a severe or unusual hardship on the offender or if no alternative transport is reasonably available.
Mr Garland is hoping to be re-elected as an independent in Tasmania's parliament on July 19.
According to section 34(e) of Tasmania's Constitution Act, an MP would only lose their seat if convicted of a crime and sentenced to a term of imprisonment exceeding one year.
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