Inverness court decides against jail sentence for Culloden drug dealer
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A 17 year old Inverness man who had been dealing a variety of drugs from a property in Culloden was using the illicit substances due to his health issues.
Aiden Cameron, now aged 20, escaped a jail sentence due to the background to his drug misuse, his young age at the time and the changes he had made to his life since the period of his offending.
Instead, Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald ordered Cameron, of Galloway Drive, to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, participate in an offender's awareness programme and remain under social work supervision for 18 months.
"You are a young man who involved yourself in a dangerous business. I could easily send you to jail for this," Sheriff Macdonald told him.
Cameron earlier admitted four charges of being concerned in the supply of drugs and sentence had been deferred for a background report.
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Defence solicitor John MacColl said: "I accept the threshold for custody has been passed but there is an alternative to custody.
"He has now been abstinent from drugs for some time which he started taking because of his health issues."
Inverness Sheriff Court had previously been told that officers obtained a search warrant for the address in Galloway Drive and exercised it on September 19, 2020.
Fiscal depute Pauline Gair said that they found a number of items including a mobile phone with purchase messages dating from May 13, 2020, a tick list. Herbal substances and tablets were confiscated.
Mrs Gair said the herbal substance was identified as 15 grammes of cannabis with a value of £150-£200.
However values for the other drugs, which included small quantities of cocaine, ecstasy and a psychoactive called Flualprazolam, were not available.
