SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife man was fined $400 on Tuesday after he was caught in possession of 11 grams of marijuana by RCMP just one day after his 18th birthday. The man pleaded guilty to possessing the drug.

"He'd only been 18 for 24 hours," said Judge Brian Bruser. "Now that you're 18, you're playing by a different set of rules."

The man's birthday was on June 16. The RCMP bicycle patrol spotted him at 1 a.m. on June 17 standing among a group of youth who were acting suspiciously. The police officers observed what they thought were drugs passing hands and searched three members of the group, one of whom was the man in court.

The RCMP found 11 packaged grams of marijuana in the man's pants pockets, arrested him and charged him with possession. He was brought back to the detachment but was not held in custody.

Crown prosecutor Mathieu St. Germain asked for a fine of $400 to $600 along with nine months of probation.

Defence lawyer Dan Rideout said a fine of $300 to $400 with no probation would be more fair, given the man's relatively young age and the mild circumstances of the case.

"In my submission, he has taken full responsibility here," said Rideout.

Although there was no pre-sentence report examining the man's life, Rideout mentioned he thought the man, who sat slouched in his seat at the defence table, may have some cognitive problems.

Bruser said he didn't know whether there were cognitive problems or the young man was tired, but said, "it strikes me what we are doing here is boring him to tears."

The man had nothing to say to the court.

Bruser did not put the offender on probation in addition to the fine.

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