Paying off a child's drug debt

[freepath01]

I have a son who is 17 and I recently discovered that he owes €850 to a dealer.

It all started when he was prescribed ADHD meds a year ago. He was taking dexamphetamine prescribed by a psychiatrist . Unfortunately for him, he liked the effects and it became gateway drug to other illegal/pharmaceutical drugs.

He told us that he felt he was old enough to manage his medicine and we trusted him to take it/manage it himself. In reality, he was actually selling most or all of the pills in school in exchange for money to buy vapes, cannabis, and alcohol.

Myself and my husband were none the wiser until two weeks ago when I was buying something on a local website for selling used stuff and noticed that a user near our area had sold a Curry's gift card and an Apple watch which were the exact same gifts that we had given him for his birthday. I confronted him about this and he confessed to selling the gifts and his medications for drugs.

I wish I could say that's the worst of it but he also admitted that he lost some drugs given to him to sell. He goes to a youth group on the weekends and there was a sketchy lad the same age as him who handed him unused pills of morphine and oxycodone after his grandfather died from cancer to sell to other students/anyone he knew. He lost the pills while walking home. There were 100s of pills in a bag which were worth probably close to €1,000.

The lad told him very bluntly that if he didn't get the money or pill backs, he'd have to pay it back or else. What should I do? Should we pay or go to the police? My husband says we shouldn't pay and shop him to the police but my son says that this lad he knows is friends with some scumbag teenagers who would be the type to be involved in hardcore drug dealing/joyriding and might hurt him or our house if we reported it.

I don’t understand your comment. I actually did read yours, hence I was really clear to say that I wasn’t suggesting that’s what you were doing & that you can answer for yourself (regarding your own circumstances).
I’m not sure how I could’ve been any clearer that the point stood, but wasn’t aimed at you personally.

You need to contact social services. I work in Child Exploitation and if this came in as a referral we would more than likely want to do an assessment

He is a child and a victim of a much higher chain of people making a lot of money. Yes he’s made some impulsive unwise decisions as have the other teens around him, it’s child exploitation. Call a drugs chairs for advice and/or children’s services. I would send him out to a new area to stay with a relative if possible if not consider you moving with him to break the cycle.

This poor lad. He has done wrong, but these gangs are ruthless and suck in the gullible for their own ends. It is sickening.
Find a local drug service ... they will have heard it all before. And certainly talk to social services.
My relative finished up in prison for GBH over a dealing incident. The drug problem in there was even worse and now that he is out he is truly hooked and just lies his way through life. An ordinary law-abiding family has been dragged into this mire by gangs exploiting a vulnerable autistic young man.
I am furious about it all and deeply saddened.

He might have lost/been mugged for the drugs by dealer associates. It could be true. He might just have used them and want more money. That also could be true.

we had a similar situation in my family. What we did was get the money to clear the debts. A streetwise member of the family WENT WITH THE BOY WITH DEBT to meet the dealer to pay it off, we didn’t give the money to the boy. This way we knew at that point the debt was cleared and no more drugs were purchased with that money. The other member of the family passing over the money told the dealers (casually, almost as an aside) that they reckon the police are onto the boy as they questioned him the other day, and that the boy said nothing but thinks a police car was watching his house. Not true but trying to place a seed of doubt with the dealer about further dealings with the boy.

that was it, and made sure the boy knew that was the ONLY time the debt would be cleared.

good luck

This isn't England, reread the OPs post and then read it again xxx

Yes because its so easy to just move. You clearly know nothing about addition. An addict will find drugs wherever they go its not something you can just run from.

I'm not even going to bother to entertain you. You're a very unpleasant person and condescending.

You replied to me first in this conversation, im only replying to you and matching your tone. Have a good Sunday

You've been watching too many TV shows. Dealers prefer to stay below the radar.

No, they don't.
Dealers have foot soldiers that will go to any lengths to collect the cash. If the person their looking for isn't available, they wouldn't think twice about attacking another family member.
The bill will increase daily.
The main supplier will lay low, his worker's won't.

After further thought, I would go to the police. Amphetamines seem to be a common drug and doesn't look to be as important to them as the likes of cocaine, cannabis and heroin. Not that I know much about this stuff.

The police are trained in this stuff, drug debts and that and your son is still so young, it would be great to nip it in the bud when he's young. It might even make him afraid to go back to them because he got the police involved which is no harm. I'm sure these gangs draw lots of teenagers into drugs, it's what they do. they can't harm all of them, it would be too risky, a warning maybe, like throwing a petrol bomb somewhere so keep that in mind and up the CCTV around your house. Ye might need to play down your son's role in it for the police for his own sake but it could be the exit he needs from that world which is the main thing.

I would take a deep breath and go into the police. Physically go into the police in my opinion because phone tapping happens in that world. And keep appropriate boundaries with your son in the future. Not a nice situation but you got this

Definitely up the security around your house though, just in case they consider robbing ye to repay the debt. Get a phone watch type alarm, CCTV and a ring doorbell

Definitely not. And don’t be silly to think that they don’t have junkies who’ll do anything they say.

They haven’t noticed because that story is bollocks.

Not possession, dealing. OP has said he has been dealing to pay his debts which is treated far more seriously.

This.

But there's no evidence, so they would never be able to secure a conviction

Watch the latest “24 hours in police custody” where they show that this “you owe us more” is in the dealer play book.