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.