Homebake operators warned by Judge

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 6

Homebake operators warned by Judge

It had been made clear that those convicted of offences associated with the manufacture of homebake morphine would go to jail for substantial periods, said Mr Justice Hardie Boys in the High Court yesterday. His Honour jailed Ross Maxwell Templeton, aged 27, an unemployed carpenter, for a year on a charge of conspiring to produce morphine. Templeton had pleaded guilty to the charge in the District Court at Invercargill.

The police statement said that last September Templeton met a person who was making homebake morphine in Christchurch from codeinebased tablets such as panadeine. It was arranged for Templeton and an associate to buy large quantities of panadeine from chemists in the Christchurch area. They were to receive 40c for every tablet. After buying numerous packets of the drug, Templeton found it increasingly difficult to obtain the tablets because pharmacists restricted sales because of the drug’s use to make illicit morphine. It was then that Templeton and a woman friend travelled to Ashburton, Timaru, and

Oamaru to buy panadeine. On January 4 they hired a rental car and drove to Dunedin where they bought 4000 tablets of the pain killer from pharmacies. They then travelled to Invercargill where they bought 1200 tablets.

On January 7 the police were called to Stewart’s Pharmacy in the Southland Savings Bank Arcade where Templeton had tried to obtain a packet of panadeine. As the police approached the shop he ran off but was apprehended soon after.

When the rental car was searched 5200 tablets of panadeine were found. Templeton said that he owed a homebake manufacturer of morphine 1750 tablets. From the trip south he expected to repay what he owed and obtain $4OOO in cash so that he could obtain further supplies of morphine, the police statement said. For Templeton, Mr T. J. Twomey said that his client had a relatively clean record until comparatively recently. Last year he had been involved in a burst of offending after the breakdown of his marriage. Templeton did not realise the seriousness of his offending on this occasion. He had fallen prey, because of his character,

to a more experienced criminal, Mr Twomey said.

Mr R. E. Neave, for the Crown, said that although Templeton was not engaged In the actual making of the morphine he knew what the tablets were to be used for.

The purchase of the tablets had started four months before Christmas and was a fairly largescale operation. He moved further afield as he became known to chemists, Mr Neave said. Mr Justice Hardie Boys said that it had been made clear many times that those convicted of homebaking would be jailed for a substantial term. Templeton had pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to manufacture and that attracted a slightly lesser penalty. The making of homebake morphine was a considerable social problem and it was the Court’s duty to try to stop it.

Over a considerable period Templeton had bought a large quantity of the basic ingredient to produce morphine and he had done it for profit. He must have known that the manufacturer was selling the drug.

“You were well aware of the misery drugs can create in people’s lives, because that was what had happened to you, and yet you were still prepared to make money by inflicting the same kind of misery on other people,” his Honour said.

He accepted that Templeton had been taken advantage of to a certain extent by the manufacturer. His case had some sad aspects but so did most drug cases which came before the courts. Templeton had some good qualities but they had “gone haywire” because of drugs. Templeton was entitled to credit that it was his first conviction for a drugrelated offence, the steps he had taken to overcome his drug problem, and for his plea of guilty. He would be jailed for 12 months.

“I cannot impose any conditions following your release. I only wish I could,” his Honour said.