my little brother is dealing drugs

[iskra]

My 21 year old brother is partway through his degree. He's been a recreational drug user for years, quite heavy usage at times, but cut backs during exam time etc. Straight A student. Very sociable. Anyway, I saw him at the weekend & it transpires that he is dealing class A drugs. He acts a middleman & buys quite large quantities. He estimates he will "earn" above the tax threshold through it this year. I don't think he's doing it for the money, particularly. He's fully funded through uni (no student loan even) & has large amount of savings that were handed over to him at 18. He's very pro-drugs & hyper-rational about it all.

I worry about him getting caught, basically, but can't see anything I can do. He considers me to be "bourgeoise" now I have kid & don't party/live spontaneously any more, & he considers our other brother to be uncool. We all get on, but I don't think our words have much weight for him. Our parents know that he is a recreational drug user & have done for years - they don't object in theory but worry about the quantities - but they have no idea about the dealing. I toyed with the idea of telling them but can't really see what it would achieve - not like he can be grounded...

He naturally considers himself invincible, but of course he's not. He already has a caution for squatting, would have thought being held in police cells for 5 hours might have given him a bit of a shock, but apparently not.

Not really sure why I'm putting this out there, except it's really weighing on my mind at the moment.

You would seriously report your own family? Giving them a jail sentence and a criminal record for life???

I'd also be worried about gang culture, more than getting caught. I have no idea what you should do though op. Does your brother know what length of sentence he would get if he was caught?

Possession with intent to supply class A carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.Sentencing guidelines suggest 3 years as a minimum.

The stuff your brother sells could end up killing someone someday, if it hasn't already fucked up their lives completely.

Your brother's a total twat. Report him.

Yes I would report my own family, what is the problem with that? You would not be giving them a criminal record or gaol sentence....that is down to them. It is dead easy not to go to gaol for drug dealing....don't deal.

By ShinyAndNew Thu 24-Jun-10 14:51:46
You would seriously report your own family? Giving them a jail sentence and a criminal record for life???

Yep.

YEs I would report my own family, because the longer he is in the "business" the more difficult it would be for him to pull out. Better sooner than later

You say "I don't think he's doing it for the money, particularly. He's fully funded through uni (no student loan even) & has large amount of savings that were handed over to him at 18. He's very pro-drugs & hyper-rational about it all"

You may not agree with this suggestion but I would ask him why he is bothering (i) to deal drugs if he doesn't need the money, and if the answer is that he intends to do it long term then ask him (ii) why is he bothering to do a degree?

If all his mates and business acqaintances will be drug distributors (which will eventually be the case if he becomes very "successful" at what he is doing) then it sounds like he intends to do dealing full time and long term. I don't have any personal experience of drugs but surely there is a point when they become the most important thing in your life and if he responds that they are not because he is not taking them or addicted to them, then the most important thing to him in terms of the dealing now being his "career". Ask him if that is what he wants, namely to be a full time long term drug dealer. If the answer is yes why the * is he bothering with paying for a degree? (and if the answer is to get contacts or customers for drugs then I think he is on the road to being arrested whether you shop him or not)

yes, teh same way i would report any member of my family for abuse/theft/assault/money laundering etc. a crime is a crime. there are real victims in this and if OP doesn't report there will be more.

"You would seriously report your own family? Giving them a jail sentence and a criminal record for life???"

Yes I would because you are guilty by association otherwise.

I'm a magistrate. We had a case last year of a student - same age as your brother. He had been dealing pot to his mates. Thought it was a nice little sideline. He got caught and was up on possession with intent to supply charges. The sentence (if he's caught with large quantities - which actually isn't that much) would start at high level community service (up to 300 hours, probation supervision eg having to turn up at police station three times a week, thinking skills programmes etc etc) - that's if he's lucky. It's likely he'll be sent to prison.
Obviously then he's going to find it VERY hard to find a job which pays up to the tax threshold at all. He won't be allowed to travel to many countries and lots of other joyous things.
The student we had in court was absolutely SHITTING himself that he was going to go to prison. His parents were at the back, his mum and sister were crying. He was like your brother, thought he was being very clever, he didn't look very clever shaking and pale in the dock.

I would give your brother a serious kick up the arse. Explain the consequences and tell him you will turn him into the police if he doesn't stop. He's at a place now where he can get back on the right track but it's easy to take the wrong step without anyone to help/advise/tell him what an imbecile he is being.

What's he studying? Coz if he's doing medicine or law he can kiss that goodbye too.

turn him in, to the police

NOT turn him into the police

We had to live over a drug dealer once. He was one of the biggest twats going and I'm not a bit sorry he's now dead.

Class A drugs like cocaine are responsible for the murders of tens of thousands of innocent people in Latin America and the slavery of millions more, including children.

Anyone who deals or uses is complicit in these crimes.

In Mexico a couple of months ago, a football with a human face stitched on it was thrown into a police station.

This is how cartels operate.

So I agree with Chandra 100%.

I'm finding this thread very interesting in a way I totally didn't expect.

redblue, in fact he's spending a year abroad next year, & will neither be using or selling drugs during that year (very punitive country). He says he plans not to sell drugs when he returns to uni for his final year. So his answer would not be that he intends to sell for the foreseeable future.

I'd ring crimestoppers too with a very large anonomous hint. What your brother does affects hundreds of people beyond the university walls. I couldn't sleep knowing and doing nothing.

Ok everyone else has got there before me but I agree with the majority.

He is a twat.

You are being naive to think he is not hurting any "innocents" just because he is not dealing outside school gates.

Do your reading, find out about the drugs trade. Have a think. Yes it might "tear your family apart" but what he's doing is just that to many other families.

Do you think the children of drug mules, holed up in prison in the UK, are particularly happy?

Gawd this one makes my blood boil.

So it's a legitimate past time then Eleanor?

iskr if you believe that then you are quite naive.

So he thinks your bourgeoise hey. Has he thought about his own cosy little world of well being and the way he might be contributing to the suffering, poverty, slavery and dependency of others who don't have the luxury of 'deciding' to be pro drugs.

In your place I would find a charity in his uni town or near home who work with drug addicts and preferably those who are on the receiving end of the drugs trade side effects and get him along to see it in personal terms rather than hyper rational theory.

If he won't or that has no effect, to be honest I would then report him. Ultimately his life is likely to be massively affected if he is personally dependent on heavy drugs use regardless, so yes it's drastic but maybe a short sharp shock is needed. In the meantime, he's part of a vast industry that inflicts such enormous damage on so many vulnerable people - however small a cog he is I don't think I could just ignore it.

If you believe that then you are very gullible. He wont walk away from the money.

If I were you I would report him. He might not be peddaling his filth outside schools, but he is supplying it to and from those that are.

It's not just yoof and bravado is it? It is criminal activity and pretty serious activity at that. Minimising it reduces the impact these crimes have on victims.

He could kiss goodbye to a lot more than a career in the Law or Medicine, as judiciary101 pointed out.

His life would be ruined, which is why I would report him. The people he is selling to will get their drugs from elsewhere. It will make no difference to their lives or to anyone else effected by the chain of supply, if just one dealer is caught and imprisoned. Someone else will simply take their place in the chain.

The op's brother would find it very difficult to get any job, especially one paying above minimum wage. He wouldn't be able to travel to numerous countries inc. America and Australia.

It sounds like he is very into the "philosophy" of drug taking. He probably spouts lots of rubbish about the nanny state and how it's an individual's choice to do what they want with their own bodies.

If this is the case then he is being very naive and stupid about the victims of drug trafficking and drug use. You need to talk to him about the morality of drugs, not the morality of choosing recreational drug use. How would he feel if he found out someone he sold to was using the drugs to entrap young girls into prostitution? That's not their "choice". How would he feel if someone took something he had sold them and ended up with permanent MH problems? How would he feel if they died? How would he feel to find out people were exploited or killed to provide him with the drugs?

It's one thing to say "Taking drugs is a personal choice" in a situation where their production and supply were regulated by law, but this is not the case.

Dealing drugs is not making a stand for freedom of choice, it is ensuring the continuing subjugation of others in so many ways. It is not ok.

ok EH he may well grow out of it once he leaves uni but what about the time inbetween. the drugs still have to come from somewhere and go somewhere, there will still be victims created by him until he stops.