sirstabby Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 A friend of mine has been ordering drugs off the internet, purely for personal use, and got caught by customs. He's unlikely to either qualify for legal aid or to be able to afford decent representation, so will be reliant on the duty solicitor. Should he bring a toothbrush to court do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x-in-man Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Should you be discussing it on a forum as it has not yet been to Court? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilp Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 A friend of mine has been ordering drugs off the internet, purely for personal use, and got caught by customs. He's unlikely to either qualify for legal aid or to be able to afford decent representation, so will be reliant on the duty solicitor. Should he bring a toothbrush to court do you think? First appearance should be adjourned, depending on the severity of the offence and whether or not he's deemed a 'flight risk'. Also depends on how he 'll plead. More details needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirstabby Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 Should you be discussing it on a forum as it has not yet been to Court? I have his permission to. Whether it's a good idea or not remains to be seen. A friend of mine has been ordering drugs off the internet, purely for personal use, and got caught by customs. He's unlikely to either qualify for legal aid or to be able to afford decent representation, so will be reliant on the duty solicitor. Should he bring a toothbrush to court do you think? First appearance should be adjourned, depending on the severity of the offence and whether or not he's deemed a 'flight risk'. Also depends on how he 'll plead. More details needed. The following may not be 100% accurate in all details but it is accurate to the best of my recollection: Essentally they've been addicted to dihydrocodine (a prescription opiate) for a few years, which has lately been being bought off the internet. As my friend is not a burglar/theif/whatever, they have a proper job and have been paying for this using their own money, a recent problem with suppliers meant they were having to spend a grand a month on dihydrocodeine (coming from dodgy UK pharmacists) so they decided to investigate other potential options... they ordered a bit of opium from another website which was immediately picked up by customs who put a watch on the mail, the customs then picked up the dihydrocodeine coming through as well as some hash that had been bought with the opium, I think because "why not". Customs thought they had some kind of drug dealer on their hands and raided the house. My understanding is that all this has already been admitted because my friend was told that if it was admitted then they would be put on a drug rehab scheme as a first time-offender (he is quite naive and incapable of lying so has probably been taken advantage of) but for whatever reason he has been charged anyway. One thing that might help is he had actually applied to be on the rehab scheme months before customs did anything: it was just that there is a long waiting list or something. He's now on it and doing well, although again I've no idea quite where the balance between this being seen as a medical problem and as a justice problem is in manx courts. I somehow suspect it'll be weighted towards the latter and he'll be the proverbial butterfly crushed under a wheel and lose not only his job but his career, the inevitable result of a jail sentence. But I may be wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La_Dolce_Vita Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 What is the law surrounding purchase of medicines and drugs on the internet from other countries. Were you to buy something like..blood pressure tablets or a diabetes tablets, which are prescription only drugs, then would you get into trouble if caught? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokorito Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I guess so, its legal to buy a gun in the US but you cant order one from the internet here. Presumably the same rule applies to drugs and medicines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirstabby Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 Oh yes you can: http://www.ukgunroom.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokorito Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 do they have a sale on for the Batman movie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wright Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 If you PM me with an e-mail address I will send you the official sentencing guidelines for drugs offences which set out aggravating and mitigating factors and sentence ranges All duty advocates are good and will represent your friend well If it is straightforward and a guilty plea is correct and your friend wants to plead guilty they will advise a guilty plea, appear and adjourn for pre sentence reports ansd apply for bail in the interim If it is complex then they will apply for legal aid, given how serious the charges are your friend might qualify, apply for bail and adjourn The duty advocate will have access to the prosecution file and a precis of the facts. There is one small potential problem, being an opiate type drug i am not sure what class, A, B or C, but probably A, the court may not think it has sufficient powers to deal and will have to consider whether to send the case to General Gaol and the deemster. In that case your friend will wait for several weeks and will have to be "committed and then the case listed for plea before the Deemster, slower and more expensive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Stevens Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Oh yes you can: http://www.ukgunroom.com/ The ultimate transaction must take place personally face to face against the proper certification conducted by an authorised dealer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirstabby Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 There is one small potential problem, being an opiate type drug i am not sure what class, A, B or C, but probably A, the court may not think it has sufficient powers to deal and will have to consider whether to send the case to General Gaol and the deemster. In that case your friend will wait for several weeks and will have to be "committed and then the case listed for plea before the Deemster, slower and more expensive I take it by that that a custodial sentence is pretty much inevitable then? Or can the lower court not send anyone to gaol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilp Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Dihydrocodeine and opium are both class 'A' drugs. The hash, class 'b'. From what you say of your mate applying for rehab and having to wait may lend toward leniency from the Beak. If he is unable to speak for himself in mitigation, it would do him well to apply for legal-aid anyway. He should prepare a letter to be read out in mitigation, by the clerk of the court. Unfortunately, this is not simply possession but production and possibly conspiracy to import. Different had he just bought the products locally but it's his 'intent' that will weigh against him because he imported. Good luck to him.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grianane Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 if he had an additction to prescription drugs wtf was he buying hash for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirstabby Posted July 30, 2012 Author Share Posted July 30, 2012 As I understand things, for pretty much the reason I gave - "why not" given that he was trying that website (went by the name of milk float or something) out for the first time. I also think you had to pay by some curious kind of currency (bitcoins maybe?) which meant it worked out the same price. Might be wrong though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jah_pet Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 I believe dihydrocodeine is class B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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