Huseyin Kaynarkan has already served 90 days of the sentence, having been in custody since April 22.

Police intercepted a vehicle at a service station in Ravenswood about 2.30am that day. Kaynarkan, 37, was a passenger.

The Bendigo Magistrates' Court heard drug paraphernalia was clearly visible in the vehicle.

Two ice pipes and a set of scales were among the items found, along with a bottle containing about six grams of the drug GHB.

The small locked box found on Kaynarkan's person contained four zip-locked plastic bags of drugs. One of the bags contained 1.77g of heroin. The other three bags contained varying quantities of the drug ice, adding up to 44.43g.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Dave Rennie said Kaynarkan admitted to having used drugs for a number of years.

He told police he was in a "bad place".

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Defence lawyer Robert Morgan said the drugs found in his client's possession were for personal use.

The court heard Kaynarkan was taking a significant amount of drugs each day and was heavily using both heroin and ice at the time of his arrest.

Mr Morgan said his client was about to use heroin when police arrived.

The lawyer said Kaynarkan used the scales to measure his drug consumption. Kaynarkan bought drugs in bulk because of the distance between his Mildura home and Melbourne, the court heard.

Mr Morgan said the drugs were bought in the bags police found in the locked box.

Asked to provide a sentencing indication, Magistrate Sarah Leighfield said the case could go either way.

While she understood why the trafficking charge had been laid, given the quantity of drugs discovered, usual trafficking elements such as money, a 'tick list' and messages from prospective buyers were missing.

"It's not clear-cut," she said.

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Kaynarkan opted to plead guilty to three charges after learning he would likely be given a five-month term of imprisonment for the offending.

He pleaded guilty to trafficking a drug of dependence, namely methyl-amphetamine, and two counts of possessing a drug of dependence. The first of the possession charges was for heroin; the second was for GHB.

Ms Leighfield sentenced Kaynarkan to a total of five months and seven days in jail - about five months less than she would have, had he not pleaded guilty.

She said he was given a significant discount for saving the court the time and cost of a contested hearing.

The court heard Kaynarkan could have served more than five months in remand waiting for a contested hearing.

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