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.

I've found this thread really interesting - the majority of people said to report him, which I am totally gobsmacked by, but an interesting insight into how people feel about drugs. I still find it surprising that the only thing people would do is the call the police - I can see that being a last resort, but a first resort? Did not expect that.

To those who had similar experiences or suggestions of approaches to take with him, thanks, I'm a bit clearer in what I need to say to him.

& no, I won't be keeping my daughter away from him.

So what do you do if he continues to sell drugs after you've spoken to him?

Yes I was, to clarify. The OP's brother should read the thread.

NOTHING!

Friends of his are, of their own free will, choosing to buy an E or 2 off him for a couple of quid for occasional weekend recreational use. Using money from their grants / savings. These pills will have been created in a lab in a back bedroom somewhere nearby.

Not all drugs and drug-dealers are the same... Some people should be a bit better informed before launching in to hysterical ZOMG druks Hang Him reactionary Daily Mail style reactions.

yes tootles I am for real. Your attitude is, frankly, absurd. You ask what if he gave drugs to one of the OP's children - that would be a sociopathic thing to do (give drugs to a child) and most drug dealers are not sociopaths or evil people. Sorry, but that's a fact. My brother is not evil, nor is he a lowlife. he is/was an idiot who didn't consider the consequences to himself or others of his actions. We can all say we've done that to some degree. If you suggested to him that he might give drugs to any child, let alone his nephew, he would be horrified.

Oh Cheninblanc you are wasting your time.. I despair at the level of ignorance displayed on here with regards to drugs. Thats what the government want though!

Drugs are not evil!! People are!!!

And this concept of drug dealers peddling to children at school gates is quite frankly ludicrous.. its supply and demand folks! People will always find a way of feeling good.

cheninblanc - to be fair it wasn't made clear until about half way through the thread that it was "E's" that she was talking about.

I lost interest after that. There are a lot of legitimate reasons to come down pretty heavily on anyone who supports the international trade in cocaine or heroin. But I am more ambivalent about chemically produced pills as I believe the people involved do so more through their own free-will than with other Class A drugs.

Eric I didn't mean as a child I meant when they had grown up.

Ignorance regarding drugs? when you've lost someone through e's then come back and tell me I'm being ignorant.

If my DS grew up and got some weed or pills from my bro I would be ok with it actually - as long as he was old enough to understand the risks and make the decision himself. Coke or anything else might be different. But I think I have a very different view to you. My older bro gets weed from/for my parents so it's not a horrifying concept.

Why would coke be so diffferent to weed or pills?....they are all illegal and have consequences for health and general well being.

Coke is more addictive, psychologically and physiologically harmful, expensive, habit forming and has a far wider global impact.

Pretty much the same then as weed then (without the global imapact, perhaps)

Eric/scurryfudge - it depends where the weed is coming from. The sale of ganja in Latin America/the Caribbean does help fund the trade in cocaine as well as buys guns etc.

If the weed is home grown then that's a different matter.

Yep. We buy Moroccan hash. DH is very well aware of the moroccan cannabis trade. It's relatively harmless. Of course there are unsavoury characters involved in getting it through borders (police and smugglers alike) but it's nothing like the latin american or afghan trade.

"The sale of ganja in Latin America/the Caribbean does help fund the trade in cocaine"

Huh? Are you suggesting that cocaine has such a low profit margin that they have to boost their income with a bit of weed on the side? That seems, um, unlikely.

Reporting him would not necessarily be the right thing. Why not compile a list of people who have been caught in the last year for dealing Class As and their sentences. Then maybe do a little research into the prisons they go to and what goes on there. That may be a wake up call.

Snorbs - how do you think smugglers get money to buy the cocaine? They sell weed. It's cheap, they make a profit, they have cash to buy cocaine, they sell it, they make a larger profit. Etc.

And there are times when there is no cocaine available or it's too risky to sell it or whatever and then they carry on their business with marajuana instead.

As a first step, I would tell your parents. Whatever decision you make from then on, you've made as a family.

I'm with Devendra/Cheninblanc/EleanorHandbasket et al.

Don't call the police, your brother is old enough to accept responsibility for his own actions if caught, but you don't have to be the one to bring them to his door.

Maryz, my father hung himself following drinking alone. Alcohol's a depressant and sadly not an uncommon factor in suicide.

ScurryF, I think a realistic view is that drugs exist within our society and will continue to do so.

All of our children are likely to be offered or wish to try various drugs, most will try them. Mine, yours ( yes, yours) and what then? Will you keep bleating the same line in denial? Report them? Lose them to ignorance and maybe an overdose?

When my DC step out into the world in which we all live (like it or not!) I intend them to do so well informed and aware and with the hope they might feel comfortable with discussing their reality with me, whatever that entails.

I am sorry about your father EcoMouse.

Of course drugs exist as part of society but just because they do, doesn't mean we should condone drug use.

The message will always be clear to my son...they are illegal in the same way that robbing someone is or damaging someone's property is.

I have to rely on the fact that he is mature enough to make his own well informed decisions about drug use (including smoking and alcohol).