Lauren Russell: Lucas Heights school teacher in court after supplying drugs to students
The reason behind why a high school teacher smoked a bong with students and supplied them with cannabis has been revealed in court.
St George Shire Standard
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The events that led up to a high school teacher supplying cannabis to students while they sat smoking from a makeshift bong have been revealed in court.
Lauren Russell, 42, was charged with one count of supplying cannabis after police allege the Lucas Heights Community School physics teacher smoked marijuana with students, who were minors, in the Sutherland Shire.
She appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Wednesday where she sought to have her charge dealt with under the Mental Health Act.
Agreed facts tendered to court said the Year 12 year advisor contacted a student asking to “catch up and have a smoke”
The student agreed and arranged to meet Russell at Menai Marketplace.
About 3.30pm, Russell picked up the student who was with a friend, before the trio travelled a short distance and parked nearby.
Russell provided the students with a small amount of cannabis for their bong which was made from a Gatorade bottle before the trio took turns smoking it until it was finished.
Russell then drove the students back to Menai Skate Park where she told other people she had just spoked drugs with the students before she left a short time later.
The mother-of-three was arrested at her home in Beverly Hills, in Sydney’s southwest, on February 4 and charged.
Several days after Russell’s arrest, footage emerged of Russell who allegedly appears to take a hit from a bong crafted from a Gatorade bottle and exhaling smoke as she perched on a milk crate surrounded by students near Menai Skate Park.
The video allegedly shows Russell smoking an unknown substance from the makeshift bong constructed from the bottle and a piece of hose.
Russell pleaded guilty to the charge of supplying less than a small quantity in April this year.
A section 14 application of the Mental Health Act allows a magistrate to dismiss a charge and discharge the defendant into the care of a responsible person, to seek treatment or rehabilitation, or without conditions.
If the application is unsuccessful then Russell could be dealt with and sentenced according to criminal law.
In court on Wednesday, Russell’s lawyer Dev Bhutani said there was a causal link between her mental health condition of bipolar and supplying cannabis.
He tendered a pathology report and submitted Russell was “significantly under-medicated” in her dosage of lithium to treat her bipolar at the time of the offence.
He said the 250mg of lithium she was prescribed in March last year was not enough to have a therapeutic benefit and protect against “future episodes of acute mania”.
He submitted that with the right medication, which was reviewed and increased in February this year, that the “acute mania” episode could have been avoided, based on the pathology test results.
Mr Bhutani submitted his client suffered from bipolar for a long time and was experiencing a manic state in December last year.
He also said reports from a psychiatrist and psychologist noted the maniac episode Russell was experiencing at the time resulted in a “lack of judgment” and led to her conducting herself in that way.
Mr Bhutani noted Russell came to court with an “unblemished record” and was otherwise a person of good character, with the Magistrate Philip Stewart accepting she was a dedicated teacher.
Magistrate Stewart questioned how Russell’s husband nor colleagues failed to recognise her maniac behaviour, with Mr Bhutani noting Russell had an elevated mood and the period had seen a benefit to her marriage after Russell had been in a depressive state earlier in the year.
The court also heard Russell had been drinking alcohol during the Covid lockdown last year while she was teaching students from home but stopped in November.
Mr Bhutani said Russell had taken “significant and concrete steps” since she was charged in her rehabilitation and was now regularly seeing a suite of medical experts.
He said a criminal conviction would have a “life changing impact” on his client, especially on her career.
Mr Bhutani conceded the offence was “incredibly serious” and there was a “breach of trust” due to her position as a teacher.
“It shouldn’t be seen that a Section 14 diversion is an avoidance or escape from punishment, but rather recognition from the courts that someone who is mentally impaired, should be diverted away from the harsher aspects of the criminal justice system,” Mr Bhutani said.
“Russell has taken such significant steps in rehabilitation and the court should continue to encourage the set up of steps for treatment, to make her accountable to continually attend upon her doctors.”
Magistrate Stewart reserved his judgment on the application to consider all material and the case was adjourned to July 25.
Russell was supported in court by her husband and father, who had flown to Australia from the United States.
Russell avoided the media after she left court.
The American-born teacher, who lives with her family in Beverly Hills, taught at Lucas Heights Community School for seven years.
A school newsletter from Lucas Heights Community School’s website indicates Russell began working at the school in 2014 after transferring from Canley Vale High School in Sydney’s southwest.
Russell originally hails from Maryland in the United States and was part of a fraternity at Drexel University in Philadelphia where she studied biology.
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