A man who said he had not taken drugs for three days returned a positive reading to police while trying to drive home from this year's Rainbow Serpent Festival.
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The Ballarat Magistrates' Court was told Jedidiah Kanagasabpathy, who pleaded guilty, had taken an illicit drug test before he left the festival in January this year, which returned a negative reading.
However, he was stopped by police in Lexton, and an oral fluid test returned a positive reading - analysis revealed the presence of MDMA.
Kanagasabpathy admitted to taking LSD and smoking cannabis at the festival, but said he had stopped early to ensure he would be safe to drive home to Melbourne.
During the interview, police discovered his license had expired.
Magistrate Ron Saines convicted and fined Kanagasabpathy $800 plus costs, and disqualified him from driving for six months.
"It's an interesting situation, the test before at the festival showed nothing," he said.
"Plenty of people might say the law around drug testing isn't fair - if it's true you didn't use drugs from Saturday to Tuesday, it wouldn't take much to convince me you were unaffected.
"But it's the law, not fairness."
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