AN ALLEGED drug dealer has admitted to getting straight back on ice after being released on bail.
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Joshua Spittal had his home on Colombera Circuit, Wodonga, raided on July 3 with seven grams of methamphetamine, cocaine and an imitation gun seized.
The 36-year-old refused to tell police the password to his phone and he was charged with offences including drug trafficking.
The drug den was again raided on September 29 with 5.7 grams of ice, a trafficable amount of GHB, 18 grams of cannabis, prescription medication, a taser and another imitation gun seized.
Spittal recently applied for bail in the Wodonga Magistrates Court and admitted he went straight home after his previous release and immediately got back on drugs.
“Everyone who was there are the start of the road was there,” he said.
“Nothing had changed.
“It was a drug drop-in centre.
“That’s what it turned into.”
The house has since been “packed up”, Spittal told the court.
Despite having a problem with drugs since he first used as a teenager, the Wodonga man said he had never been to rehab.
“Wodonga’s not a town that’s got much,” he said when asked why he hadn’t sought out help before.
The court heard Spittal was contesting the trafficking matters but accepted some of the drugs were his.
“He’s in a lot of trouble,” his lawyer said.
“He understands that.”
The court heard he wanted to get his life back on track.
He had not been required to undergo drug screens while on bail for the first offences.
Spittal freely admitted to the magistrate he had walked out of court and started using again.
“I'm not interested, for once in me life I'm not,” he said of his current attitude to drugs.
Police opposed bail given the risk of him committing further offences.
His father, who has no criminal convictions, said he would be happy to have his son stay at his home and would notify police if he was using again.
He offered a $2000 surety.
Magistrate Ian Watkins said he didn’t want to put him in that position.
“I’m not going to put Mr Spittal Snr in that situation because I fear he would lose his $2000,” he said.
Mr Watkins said it was an “all too familiar and sad story of someone whose life has been destroyed by drugs”.
He denied bail.
Spittal will return to the court on November 20.