Supplying Class C to a Person under 18 Flashcards
SUPPLYING ANY CLASS C CONTROLLED DRUG TO PERSON UNDER 18 YEARS
It is an offence to supply or administer a Class C controlled drug to a person under 18 years of age (or to offer to do so). The definitions surrounding supplying, administering and class C controlled drug are covered earlier in this lesson note.
PERSON UNDER 18 YEARS
The legislation recognises the vulnerability of young people and the fact that drug use is likely to have a greater impact on them than on an adult.
It is therefore an offence to provide or offer Class C controlled drugs to a person under 18 by any means, whether by distributing, giving, selling or administering the drugs.
As age is an essential element of a charge under paragraph (d) the prosecution must prove the age the person to whom the drugs were supplied.
PROOF OF AGE
Where age is an essential ingredient of a charge, the prosecution must prove the victim’s age at the time of the alleged offence, using the best evidence available to do so.
In practice this generally involves producing the victim’s birth certificate in conjunction with independent evidence that identifies the victim as the person named in the certificate.
Ideally the independent evidence will be that of a parent, but that will not always be possible.
In R v Forrest & Forrest17 two men were charged with having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl who had run away from Child Welfare custody. At trial the girl produced her birth certificate and gave evidence herself that she was the person named in the certificate. The men successfully appealed their convictions on the grounds that the Crown had not adequately proved the girl’s age.
The Court of Appeal suggested that in that case it might have been sufficient if, along with producing her birth certificate, the girl had given additional testimony, for instance as to the day on which she habitually celebrated her birthday, the age at which she first went to school, and in what year, and so on.
