Couple jailed for supplying pot to 13-year-old

Bridgewater, N.S. - A judge has jailed a couple who regularly provided cannabis to the woman’s 13-year-old son over the course of more than four months.

The mother, 39, who shared parenting duties of the teen with her estranged husband, was found guilty at trial of producing marijuana. Her common-law partner, 31, was convicted for trafficking.

“There was a culture of marijuana use” in the household, Bridgewater provincial court Judge Paul Scovil said in a written decision released Tuesday.

The door to the room where the teen’s mother had two pot plants growing “had a sign stating, ‘Mum’s Grow Op,’” said the judge.

The teen “was invited, and given marijuana, to smoke regularly on weekends,” Scovil said.

Both the mother and her partner provided the teen with cannabis, said the judge.

The boy “indicated he would smoke marijuana six to seven times every weekend he spent at his mother’s. At times, if he coughed when smoking he was called a ‘pussy.’ ”

The boy’s father caught wind of what was going on when he found his son in his basement trying to smoke catnip. When asked about it, the boy admitted the marijuana usage at his mother’s home.

Although growing the number of plants the mother had in 2016 would be legal now, it wasn’t legal in 2016 when the crime took place, said the judge.

“Providing marijuana to a 13-year-old was illegal then,” Scovil said. “It is illegal now.”

The offences took place between Oct. 1, 2016 and Jan. 7, 2017.

Both of the adults charged in the case have a Grade 9 education. The teen’s older brother also pleaded guilty to trafficking for providing the younger boy with pot.

The teen’s mother was given a 45-day jail sentence which can be served on weekends, and a year’s probation.