Luke Isaac Huston in Bathurst Court for driving with drug in system

Luke Isaac Huston, 41, of Piper Street, Bathurst, was before Bathurst Local court on May 17, 2023 where he entered a plea of guilty to driving with an illicit drug present in his blood.

Police were doing patrols of the Bathurst area when they saw a blue Honda Jazz travelling "roughly" along Rocket Street during the morning of December 16, 2022, court documents said.

As the vehicle drove past, police did a check on the registration which showed the licence plate had expired on December 12 - four days prior.

The court heard police stopped the car in a parking lot along the Vale Road and noticed a strong smell of cannabis wafting from inside the vehicle as they approached Huston.

During conversations with Huston, police noticed he was extremely talkative, was fidgeting with his hands and appeared to be nervous.

Huston was arrested after he gave a positive roadside oral drug test to cannabis. He was then searched by police, who found two pill containers and a metal grinder in his pocket.

Officers asked Huston what the containers were for and he said "medicine" before he later admitted it was for cannabis that he smokes daily to help with anxiety.

Police opened the containers and a plastic bag in a tobacco pouch and found the drugs, which came to 50.98 grams in total.

Huston was taken to Bathurst Police Station where he gave a second positive drug test to cannabis, which was later confirmed by forensic analysis of his sample.

A self-represented Huston had got two separate charges confused - including the one before the court - after he noted a newspaper article that detailed a previous encounter with police, before he said he was guilty of the driving matter.

Magistrate Atkinson struggled to gauge the attention of Huston, who said he would accept jail for the matter with an expectation he would receive the most "extreme outcome".

"Don't be so dismissive," Ms Atkinson said.

"You need to listen to magistrates when we talk. If you stay on the road of using illicit drugs, you're headed towards more problems. Drugs don't help anyone."

Huston was placed on a conditional release order without conviction for 12 months.

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