WEED-SELLING TEEN GETS JAIL TERM

An 18-year-old caught selling drugs at a school dance was ordered to serve
90 days in jail Thursday.

Wallace Gouthro of Grand Lake Road, Sydney, was at a Sydney Academy dance
Nov. 7, when the vice-principal spotted him in the washroom selling
"nickel" bags of marijuana.

The $5 bags held less than a gram apiece and were being sold to other high
school students by Mr. Guthro, who has had an academic average in the 90
per cent range.

"This is a good kid, had a lot of potential," Crown Attorney David Iannetti
told the court, also noting that the Criminal Code identifies the sale of
drugs on school grounds as a serious aggravating factor when sentencing
drug traffickers.

"If you sell drugs in school, then you have to be prepared to face the
consequences," Mr. Iannetti said, recommending Judge David Ryan impose
house arrest.

Defense lawyer Joe Rizzetto argued for a period of probation as it was his
client's first drug offence.

When asked if he had anything to say, the teenager confidently told the
judge, "I don't want to go to jail. I don't think that's an appropriate
sentence for me. I want to get on with my life."

"I can honestly say there's not too many people who stand there who say
that they want to go to jail," Judge Ryan replied, to the amusement of the
gallery.

Judge Ryan said he didn't buy the teens excuse that his stash was for
personal use.

"If there was a lineup, I'm sure that every one would have been sold,"
Judge Ryan said. "Drugs are a very serious problem in our society, and to
go (sell) where other young people are subject to peer pressure has
disastrous results."

The sentence will be served on weekends, starting Friday. A year's
probation will follow, with the conditions that he get treatment for drug
and alcohol abuse and stay away from the school property unless registered.