Marijuana legalization may be coming next summer, but trafficking in the drug can still land you in incarceration today.
That’s what happened with Jordan Hochstein, 22, of Estevan. He was sentenced to a 15-month conditional sentence order (CSO) on Nov. 6 for trafficking in marijuana. That means he won’t be in jail, but will be on a 24-hour curfew except for times when he is at work, at least for the first portion of the term.
The 15-month CSO is the longest of several sentences, to be served concurrently. Including one month for the possession of proceeds and another six month CSO for possession of marijuana. He got a four-month CSO on breaching probation. Hochstein also netted a six month suspended sentence from an assault charge on Feb. 28, where he hit an ex-girlfriend several times in the face while at an Estevan house party where they had both been drinking.
Federal Crown prosecutor Eric Neufeld explained to Judge Lane Wiegers that the trafficking charges stem from Estevan police initializing a surveillance program on Feb. 7, 2017. They noted that several people under 25 years old came to his residence, often entering and exiting in under five minutes.
He was taken into custody the next day, and a search found 73 grams of marijuana, six grams of “shatter” cannabis, a small quantity of hash and one-tenth of a gram of cocaine. There was five grams of a white powder police believed was meant as a cutting agent. They also found some American money, a digital scale, sales records, resealable plastic bags and a cell phone. The bedside stand tested positive for cocaine.
Hochstein admitted to trafficking marijuana, and was not employed at the time.
Defence attorney Joelle Graham noted Hochstein has a three-year old child, and works in the concrete business. The assault was against a former girlfriend, but not the mother of his child.
The Crown and defence presented Judge Wiegers with a joint submission that saw a few charges stayed. The sentence would also allow him to maintain employment.
In imposing sentence, Judge Wiegers noted he found the joint submission reasonable. In addition to the conditional sentence order, he said Hochstein could not travel further than 250 kilometres. He must put in 100 hours of community services. Other than for work purposes during business hours, he cannot possess a cellphone, tablet, laptop or other electronic device of that variety, and he must submit his detailed cellphone records to police for their purview. He must also submit to searches as required.
The sentence also imposed a 10-year firearms prohibition.
Hochstein must take alcohol, drugs and anger management programming if so ordered. He must also have no contact with the victim in the assault case.
Hochstein will have six months to pay the $900 victim surcharge imposed as part of the sentence.
