A 17-YEAR-OLD Warrnambool drug trafficker has been placed on a youth supervision order and been told he had almost torpedoed his entire future.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The youth, who cannot be named because he is aged under 18 years old, pleaded guilty in a court to trafficking ice and cannabis and possessing both drugs.
Police said he was a passenger in car intercepted by police near a known drug dealer's home just after midnight last Friday night.
Officers searched the car, the driver and the youth, finding a small amount of cannabis and ice on the young man.
When asked did he have anything illegal on him, the youth said "bud" referring to the cannabis and police found .4 grams of ice.
"I just had a puff," he told officers.
There were a large number of messages on his mobile phone about drug dealing during the past month, mostly about cannabis.
A magistrate said the messages were beyond swapping drugs for money.
The youth only turned 17 last month and has been living by himself.
A lawyer said the youth's drug use had increased this year and he had been using ice during the past couple of months
He said the teenager was now willing to address his drug issues after spending three days in the Warrnambool police station cells.
The magistrate described the youth as "a sitting duck to reoffend" unless he was supervised.
She told the youth drug trafficking was a "very very serious charge" and if he was a year older he would be going to jail.
The magistrate said taking drugs would have a massive negative impact on the youth and if she had recorded a conviction he would never have been able to travel overseas and would have had huge difficulties getting a job.