Queensland schoolboy sells $26k of cannabis in eight months

“Meticulous records” kept by an “enterprising” Queensland high school student have revealed how he sold $26,000 worth of cannabis to peers in an eight-month trafficking stint.

Cannabis clipseal bag generic image. Picture: iStock/Bastiaan Slabbers

A high school student who established a profitable drug trafficking business selling to other children was busted with $11,000 cash stashed in his bedroom cupboard when police came knocking.

The boy sold $26,000 worth of cannabis during his eight-month trafficking stint starting when he was 16, keeping meticulous records, promoting stock, and strategising with other drug dealers to grow his business.

The Queensland teen was sentenced in the Brisbane Children’s Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to trafficking dangerous drugs.

“You knew it was a crime, you knew that adults went to jail for it,” Judge Leanne Clare said in sentencing the teen.

“Your plan was to make as much money as you could before you turned 18.”

The court heard the child ran a successful trafficking business for eight months while he was aged 16 to 17.

“You kept meticulous records, you reviewed the figures and revelled in the highest daily takings and more than that you worked to grow the business,” Judge Clare said.

“You actively promoted stock, you notified customers and advertised on relevant chat groups, you hunted down the best prices and strategised with other drug dealers.

“So you enjoyed it, you enjoyed the whole process.”

Police eventually busted the teen, finding $11,000 in cash stashed in his cupboard along with records of his sales.

“You had recorded 63 separate sales for an astonishing amount of $26,000,” Judge Clare said.

“That was a lot of cannabis.”

The court heard the teen, now an adult, worked full time in a trade and had no criminal history.

“There are people in our community who think of cannabis as a soft drug but it is called a dangerous drug for a reason,’ Judge Clare said.

“But cannabis itself can cause serious harm to people, people who don’t touch anything else

“Young people, people like your customers, are particularly vulnerable to it and it can irretrievably damage their brains so that in this court we see many young people who have serious mental health conditions as a direct result of cannabis.”

Judge Clare fined the teen $2000, saying it was fitting he be hit with a monetary penalty given his offending was motivated by profit.

Judge Clare took into account the boy had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia and acknowledged his offending made him “feel popular and more in control”.

“You come from a good home,” she said.

“You have parents who have always loved and cared for you and they remain supportive.

She warned he would have likely been sentenced to prison if he was an adult when the offending was committed.

“You are an adult now and you will never get another opportunity like today.”

The court also made an order for the forfeiture of the $11,000 cash found in the boy’s room.

“You have an enterprising spirit. You can be methodical, dogged and ambitious and so you should be able to do very well in the future if you confine yourself to activities that are lawful,” Judge Clare said.

“If you don’t, you’ll end up in jail.”

Originally published as Queensland schoolboy sells $26k of cannabis in eight months