By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
A MAN was handed a suspended jail term after pleading guilty to trading 13 Xanax tablets for methamphetamine at Dandenong railway station.
Damian Quinn had been caught by police making the exchange on 13 June.
Police later found the methamphetamine and 11 oxycontin tablets hidden in his clothes and underwear.
At Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Monday, Quinn also faced charges arising from the theft of $6 of chocolates and an energy drink from Moe Woolworths.
Quinn’s defence lawyer said Quinn had no intention to traffic drugs until he “bumped into” his trading partner on the train.
“He has spoken to the person about whether he wanted to buy ice.
“He says he doesn’t have any money and Xanax is exchanged.”
Magistrate Gerard Bryant, noting the proliferation of harm due to Xanax, said he needed to send a “strong message that Dandenong railway station and surrounds isn’t the property for the exchange or selling drugs.”
“He’s providing people with drugs he’s entitled to on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which causes untold harm to people who abuse it.”
He said Quinn didn’t have a long history of drug offences, nor did he “drive a Ferrari or have any of the accoutrements associated with drug trafficking”.
Quinn was given a three-month jail term suspended for 12 months.
