Got caught with 2 pts meth what now?

Hey guys, like my title says I got caught with 2 pts of crystal meth by the cops, got arrested and taken to the lock-up and got questioned, finger printed all that jazz.

So I was wondering, I've got to goto court next month and I'm not sure what will happen from there regarding fines, rehab, good behaviour type stuff. So anyone here had the same sort of thing happen to them or know someone that has?

I'm 25, live in Victoria. The only other offence I've had was drink driving when I was about 18.

I didnt give them any names of who sold it and they've got me for Use & Possesion of a DOD (drug of dependance).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated btw. I posted it here instead of Legal Advice because it's an Aussie legal related question but, if you need to move it you got the power to.

Thx.

I bet it was ice.

On a more serious note, IMO that is quite a small dose of the drug and you probably won't get into much trouble at all. I don't know for sure but IMO 2 points is definately personal use and with no prior drug charges simply say it was your first time use of the substance or any drug substance for that matter.

GL

Don't ask us, ask a lawyer. You probably can't afford one but there are some free options. Go to somewhere like the Fitzroy Legal Service and ask if you can have a quick chat with someone. If you don't live near there try ringing them and asking for a like-minded place somehwere near you. Also try asking this in the Legal Q&A forum here at BL as there are quite a few Australians in there who can help.

You have some time to prepare for your trial, pease spend it wisely and get some professional advice. It can mean the difference between a permanent criminal record and just a slightly scarey afternoon in a court room.

Hello, sorry to hear about your legal troubles, I'm rather concerned about this as well. 2 points seem to be a small amount for the police to take the effort to bust you, do you mind sharing how it happened? I'll be interested to know and I'm sure there are others that want to hear about it in order not to make the same mistake. Did you get raided? Did someone report you? I hope that you can take some time to answer if its not too much trouble.
You might also find this to be interesting: Your Day in Court (Victoria Legal Aid)
It's a PDF file that tells you what you should do during the court appearance. I hope that everything turns out okay in the end! Good luck buddy!

Don't rely on Legal Aid if you don't have to, a good lawyer is worth his/her weight in gold. I can't imagine you receiving a serious penalty however a good lawyer should ensure you get off without a conviction, which is something you really want to avoid. I got legal aid for a minor shoplifting case and received a conviction, which was unfortunate because one day when I went to court for a more serious case the magistrate made a point of mentioning that he wouldn't have convicted me if it weren't for the previous conviction.

There are some phone numbers in this post at the bottom of our FAQ that may help.

Good luck,

BigTrancer

1. Don't stress too much and like people said above contact legal aid for a free advice.

2. Your offence is not serious and depending on your circumstances, you will either receive a fine in the range of $1000 or community service - the magistrate will probably give you a choice.

3. You WILL receive a serious criminal record which will interfere with any of your future plans of travelling especially to USA UNLESS you ask the magistrate if it is possible to incur a SPENT CONVICTION (which i will expain in a sec)

4. After you are called up to the stand, the copper will read his statement which was put together from what happened and from your interview. The magistrate will look at your record and see that there is no similar convictions or any other serious convictions against you. You will then be given a chance to speak.

5. Express to the magistrate that you were experimenting with drugs and have learnt a lesson, that you have a good job/or studying at uni and that you genuinely recognise that it was a mistake and that it is fair that now you will face the penalty. BASED on what you said, ask the magistrate if it is possible to impose a SPENT CONVICTION.

6. A SPENT CONVICTION is a conviction that you do not by law have to disclose anywhere. ie. When applying for a Visa, when your job makes a police clearance to check on you they will not find it. The ONLY time a spent conviction will come up, is if you go to court for a similar offence. So obviously be careful next time

7. Don't stress, you're cool. $1000 fine or community service is not too bad, and you are more than likelly to receive a spent conviction if you ask for one. Even if you don't, I know plenty of people with similar convictions, and they are doing just fine, trust me

8. If your meth was very pure rocks (which I doubt) - and you should know this , if you don't KNOW this, then don't worry about this point altogether, they would have been analysed for purity and you might be put under further investigation. ie. phone bugged.


NOTE: meth is a schedule II substance and MDMA is schedule I. You are generally more fucked if you get done with pills.

Another tip which can really help is to undertake drug councilling (before you're told to) - ie book yourself in for some now, before you do anything else (besides speak to a lawyer) - Prove that you've realised your mistake.

Wow! Thanks for all the responses guys I will go to legal aid on tuesday and check out what they have to say, my mate went yesterday and he said that they are going to put in a request for the judge to waive a conviction.

do you mind sharing how it happened? I'll be interested to know and I'm sure there are others that want to hear about it in order not to make the same mistake. Did you get raided? Did someone report you? I hope that you can take some time to answer if its not too much trouble.

Click to expand...

I was driving into the city to go out on a sat night and decided to pull over into a dark looking street so I could smoke a bit of meth b4 I went into the club, lo and behold headlights appear up ahead after i've had my first toke. Yep, it was the cops.

My mate had already had some of his and had left his stuff on the dashboard (picture the nice little foil wrap). I put the pipe under my seat, the cops got out and walked either side of the car, the one on my mates side spotted the foil on the dashboard and that was the end of that.

I figured the best thing to do was just tell the truth to avoid any nastiness with the boys, so when my arresting officer asked me if i had anything i grabbed the pipe from under the seat and the 2 points of meth which were in my wallet. That was all I had on me and I told him so, I answered every question truthfully and didn't have my car impounded or even looked over.

My mate did the same, "just the truth sir" and after being questioned and such, we were free to go. I have to say that as I was as honest and open as I could be, the officer was likewise to me, we ended up having a good little chat about his line of work and about mine and so on, and we left on quite friendly terms.

I belive that the only people who hate coppers are the type of people who don't learn from mistakes, and are always gonna do wrong regardless of who it hurts.

Respect those who keep you and yours safe, and they'll respect you.

And I'll have to check out those #'s thanks Big T.

Again thank you all for the responses, I'll keep you posted on how everything pans out.

Cheers!

Fuck thats bad luck getting caught man, I wish u better luck in the court proceedings

damn sorry to hear this!

another damn good reason why drug use should be decriminalized & legalized.

alot of people say they're happy to leave the drug laws the way they are, as they can still get what they're after, and it'll never happen to them (ie getting busted)

well here it did ...

good luck!

Good Luck Mate

Don't have much to add, apart from good luck!!!
And let us know how you go!!!!

Just one word of warning (comes from experience) Just because the police were nice to you when you got caught, doesn't mean their report won't be negative towards you. I got busted with underage drinking + carrying a weapon (nunchuckas - used to use them for speed training, part of my fighting background). Anyway, coupel of the cops hassled me but for the main, they were very nice. I get a court summons 9 months later and appear in court. Oh my lordy, I was accused of assaulting police, using various swear words at them and generally being a prick. When in reality, I was courteous, compliant with whatever they asked me to do and nice attitude towards them. Got a hefty fine, conviction until I appealed it, went to higher courts (and then a good paid lawyer, the legal aid lawyer was a joke. Finally got off with a warning, good behaviour and fine with a non-conviction).

Hey all, I just thought that I would give my final update on this situation... I went to this place:- Frontyard Youth Services located at 19 King St, Melbourne
Phone 9611 2416 or 9611 2417 Fax 9614 3622

and talked to a lawyer named Anna 2 weeks ago and I was advised to seek a diversion.

This is an option for people in my circumstance eg:- where no real priors (i got done for drink driving in 97..not too heavy) and where the crime is not too severe. The way it works is that your lawyer asks your arresting officer to agree to a diversion, if he/she says yes then it goes to a different type of court procedure where options other than a conviction and fine are given.

In my circumstance, I have to write a letter of apology to my arresting officer, attend a 2 hr drug awareness course and donate some money to a charity, (I chose red cross, and the amount depends on your current financial position)

A conviction was not recorded on my criminal record, but it shows up as a charge which has been struck out, it just looks like a caution in other words so any firm which asks to look at my record wont know that I have been arrested for drug offences at any time.

Me = VERY fuggin happy.

Cheers.

Nice one, thanks for the update!

Good to hear you got off with that Diversion, it'd be a shame if there was a lot more trouble involved for a one off offense!

The system works ----> Sometimes...

kwiksand

Cheers for following up on that...