Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jun 2008
Source: Daily Gleaner (CN NK)
Copyright: 2008 Brunswick News Inc.
Contact:  http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3857
Author: Don MacPherson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada)

DRUG-DEALING STUDENT WON'T HAVE RECORD

A Leo Hayes High School student who admitted to selling drugs on 
school grounds was given a conditional discharge in court Thursday, 
meaning he'll have no criminal record.

The 16-year-old boy, who can't be identified as per the provisions of 
the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was in court Thursday to be sentenced 
on a Dec. 6 charge of trafficking in marijuana.

Crown prosecutor Hilary Drain said the charge arose when a city 
police officer saw a drug deal going down on school property.

The officer, the high school's police liaison, saw the boy pull out a 
Zip-lock bag, give some of the contents to another student and accept 
money in return.

The officer arrested him for trafficking, which the boy admitted in 
his police interview.

"He said he only sells drugs to his friends," Drain said.

The teen had about two grams of pot on his person that day.

Defence lawyer Sylvain Pelletier said the boy bought the weed for himself.

He sold some of his stash to friends at the same price he got for it, 
Pelletier said, so he didn't benefit financially.

"I know what I did was wrong, but I learned my lesson," the teen told 
Judge Graydon Nicholas.

The boy still attends school, the court heard, and he's taking 
drug-counselling sessions at Leo Hayes as well.

Leo Hayes principal Kevin Pottle told The Daily Gleaner on Thursday 
the student was suspended from school for the offence.

"Generally, we do five days out of school (suspension)," he said. "It 
would've been in that range (in this case)."

Such suspensions are usually followed by three days of in-school 
suspension, he said, to help the student catch up with his schoolwork.

Such cases are also referred to River Valley Health's addiction 
services, Pottle said.

Expulsion from school isn't a consideration, even in a case as 
serious as drug trafficking, he said.

"Expulsion does not exist in New Brunswick schooling," Pottle said.

The longest a student would be suspended would be for the balance of 
a semester, and the next semester he or she would be given a second chance.

Suspensions longer than five days also have to be approved by the 
District 18 director of education, he said.

When it comes to discipline in the school system, Pottle said, 
punishment can't be the only component.

An emphasis on education and rehabilitation has to be in place as 
well, he said.

In court, both Drain and Pelletier described the boy's pre-sentence 
report as positive.

That report suggested the teen be granted a supervised conditional 
discharge, which means he'd have no criminal record after fulfilling 
certain conditions of a fixed period of time.

The prosecutor and defence agreed with that recommendation.

Nicholas granted the discharge.

Among the conditions the boy must fulfil over the next year are to 
make a $100 donation to Chrysalis House, to abstain from alcohol and 
non-prescribed drugs and to continue with counselling as recommended 
by his probation officer.

Pottle said he receives few reports of drug sales on the school 
campus itself, but trafficking is going on near the school.

He said it's a problem in the woods behind Leo Hayes and in parking 
lots adjacent to Fredericton High School.

"It's a concern because of the impact it has on students, short-term 
and long-term," Pottle said. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake