Possessing Dangerous Drugs IV

Offences:            Possessing dangerous drugs, possessing utensils or pipes that had been used and possessing property suspected of having been used with the commission of a drug offence

Solicitor:             Shelby Smith

Court:                  Holland Park Magistrates Court

Date:                   2019

Overview:

Our client was charged with 3 offences under the Drugs Misuse Act (Qld).

Police located our client with 13.23 grams of cannabis, a glass water smoking pipe and a pair of scissors that had been used to cut cannabis.

After meeting with our client and reviewing the QP9 police summary, Ms Smith met with our client to go through his options. Given that our client had previous convictions for similar offences, it was very important to ensure that we considered every available option.

We were then instructed to negotiate with the Police Prosecution Corps regarding charge 3. Ms Smith successfully negotiated and the prosecution agreed to withdraw this charge against our client.

Prior to appearing in court on the day of sentence, we accompanied our client whilst he was assessed for the Drug and Alcohol Assessment Referral (DAAR) course. This course is available if substance use is a contributing factor to the offending.  It is a one to two hour drug education and counselling session.

Ms Smith advised the court that our client was suitable for the DAAR course. She submitted that this would be an appropriate penalty in the circumstances.

Our client was placed on a $400 bond to be of good behaviour for a period of 6 months. A condition of this bond was that our client complete the DAAR course.

If our client breaches the bond by committing a further offence or failing to attend the DAAR course, the $400 will be forfeited and he could be resentenced for these offences.

If the court sentences a person to a good behaviour bond, no conviction is recorded on their criminal history. In this case, our client avoided having convictions recorded on his criminal history.