Driver fined $230 for having unsealed cannabis while travelling in Colwood

West Shore RCMP said a driver was fined $230 for having unsealed cannabis in their vehicle. (Handout)

A driver will have to pay a $230 fine after police found cannabis in a ziplock bag on a passenger seat.

On March 27, West Shore RCMP officers pulled over a vehicle on Jacklin Road at Sooke Road for a traffic violation.

Police said the driver was unable to produce a driver’s licence. Officers also smelled cannabis in the vehicle and found 23 grams of cannabis in a ziplock bag in the front seat.

The driver received a $230 violation ticket for driving a vehicle while in possession of cannabis. They received a warning for not being able to produce their driver’s licence and the cannabis was seized by the officers.

Under the Cannabis Control Act, cannabis can be transported in a vehicle but it has to be in its original federal packaging. If the package is open, it can’t be accessible to the driver or passengers.

If you are going to travel with cannabis in the vehicle, the safest place to put it is in your trunk and not on your front seat. This is very similar to the laws surrounding open liquor in a vehicle. For example, if you pick up a bottle of wine from the liquor store and drove straight home with it, that’s ok. Now if you decide to take a half-opened bottle of liquor to a friend’s home you cannot transport it in a vehicle where the driver or passengers can access it. These laws are aimed to protect the public and prevent impaired driving, Const. Nancy Saggar, media relations officer for the West Shore RCMP, said in a statement.

A driver near Willows Beach was also issued a violation ticket the week of March 10 after Oak Bay police found the driver in possession of cannabis within reach and not in a federal package.

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