The accused was charged with having care or control of a motor vehicle while impaired by a drug contrary to section 253(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.
The accused was found asleep in the driver's seat of his running vehicle during rush hour traffic.
He admitted to smoking a substance he believed to be marijuana approximately 30 minutes before being found.
The Crown could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the substance was marijuana, but argued the charge was proven as the accused consumed an unidentified drug.
The court found the accused guilty, holding that the accused voluntarily consumed a substance he knew to be a drug with intoxicating effects, and his subsequent decision to drive constituted recklessness sufficient to establish the requisite mens rea, regardless of whether the substance was the specific drug he believed he was consuming.
