[imagesource: Povy Kendal Atchison]

You would think the above goes without saying.

I mean, you shouldn’t really feed cannabis cupcakes to anybody without telling them, let alone your fellow troops as they prepare for a live firearms exercise.

Chelsea Cogswell has been found guilty on eight counts of administering “a noxious thing” to eight soldiers, along with one count of behaving in a disgraceful manner.

The case stems from an incident at the Combat Training Centre at CFB Gagetown in the province of New Brunswick, Canada.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, reports CBC:

Cogswell [with her father below], who was in charge of the canteen, was found to have put cannabis into cupcakes she had baked at home and distributed to soldiers in July 2018 when they were on a live-fire exercise. She didn’t tell them about the cannabis…

They described the cupcakes as chocolate, with chocolate icing and a jelly bean on top.

Image: Lauren Bird/CBC

The eight soldiers who ate the cupcakes said they felt paranoia, anxiety, fatigue, drunkenness and dry mouth starting about 30 minutes after eating the cupcakes.

Droogbek is unpleasant at the best of times, but throw in some general paranoia and weaponry, and things get messy.

The soldiers also mentioned being unable to focus on their tasks, and worried about the safety of handling guns and ammunition during the exercise.

Defence lawyer Ian Kasper, representing Cogswell, argued that the soldiers may have been ill with something else, or suffering from heat exhaustion.

However, five urine samples from the soldiers all tested positive for traces of THC, as did a cupcake wrapper recovered from the scene.

Cogswell, who had a medical prescription for marijuana at the time, had been upset with her unit, and said she was sometimes referred to as “the canteen bitch”.

There’s a chance that Military Judge Commander Sandra Sukstorf will show leniency:

“I’ve been on this bench long enough to see that there are a lot of good people that sometimes exercise very poor judgment.”

Sukstorf also said sentencing would be an opportunity for Cogswell, who didn’t take the stand in her own defence, to tell her story.

“It’s very important for us to see the good that lies behind an individual,” she said.

I would be willing to bet that many of Cogswell’s fellow soldiers won’t be forgiving her.

Sentencing will begin on November 16.

[source:cbc]