Margaret River teenager pleads guilty to distributing drug-laced lollipops in South West school

A South West teen has pleaded guilty to distribution of drug-laced lollipops in school among other drug charges. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named to protect his identity, pleaded guilty in Margaret River Children’s Court on Monday to charges of supplying psychoactive substance, possession of LSD and possession of DMT. In August this year a police investigation was sparked when the teenager gave school friends lollipops laced with drugs, causing one to suffer hallucinations and other symptoms. When police raided the boy’s family home a brown paper bag was discovered under his bed with the lollipops, which analysis revealed had been created with synthetic cannabinoid, a human-made form of cannabis. A search of his phone revealed photos and text messages depicting the teenager in the process of distributing the drugs. Police also discovered 25 paper tabs of LSD and less than 1g of DMT in clipseal bags, both illicit drugs used to create hallucinations. Since the incident, the teenager had been expelled from his school under the direction of the Director-General and has been home-schooled since the charges were laid. It was revealed in court the teenager had been convicted of other drug offences relating to the same incident earlier in the year, for which he was on a youth community-based order. Magistrate Benjamin Tyers referred the teenager to the youth Justice Team as punishment, given his prior good character, compliance on his current order. “I want to make it clear the Juvenile Justice Team is not a soft option but it’s similar to the youth community based order” he said. “Having been excluded from school by the Director-General and essentially look for re-enrolment, which thankfully has occurred, there’s been some consequences to his offending behaviour already a part from the order. “Youth Justice will get a bit more time with (the offender) to make sure nothing like this happens again.” The Juvenile Justice Team the teenager was referred to will work with him to take responsibility for his actions and address any underlying behaviour which caused his offending to prevent him repeating his actions in the future.