Drug case scares girl

Press, 28 April 1989, Page 13

Drug case scares girl

A schoolgirl, who imported a highly-potent drug because she was curious about its effects, said she was “freaked out by the whole thing” and would never get involved with drugs again, Mr Justice Hardie Boys was told in the High Court yesterday.

The girl, aged 17, whose name was suppressed, was sentenced to 100 hours community work. Counsel, Mr Mervyn Glue, said when he told the girl that the importation of Ecstasy, a class A drug, could result in a sentence of up to life imprisonment, the girl was shattered.

The police summary said that in August, 1988, the girl and her family travelled to the United States where she tried Ecstasy, or MDA, with her cousin, aged 18. She arranged with her cousin to send some of the drug to her in New Zealand and paid her $9O to buy it. On November 29, 1988, an envelope addressed to the girl was intercepted by Customs in Auckland. It contained two small plastic bags of white powder weighing 1.5 g. On analysis the powder was found to be Ecstasy, the police statement said.

Mr Glue said his client did not know what she was being led into by her cousin, who was older than her and a more sophisticated person with a stronger personality. After trying the drug in the United States she arranged for some of it to be sent to New Zealand but now she was horrified by the outcome. Mr Glue was grateful to the officer in charge of the case, Detective Bernie O’Fagan, for the courteous and sympathetic way he had handled the investigation.,

The defendant was a member of a large family with loving and concerned parents. She was an achiever and it was a pity to see someone with talents appearing in court on a serious charge.

MDA had been reclassified in the United States for the third time. It had been removed from the list of schedule one drugs, the equivalent of class A in New Zealand, towards the end of 1987.

It had been developed in 1914 by a German chemist as an appetite suppressant and had been used in psychiatric medicine. Until five years ago it was not classified as a drug in America. “However, it is a dangerous and addictive drug and is rightly regarded so by our legislators. My client did not realise what she was being led into,” Mr Glue said. His Honour said it was very hard to understand how someone like the girl with her family background, talents and outdoor interests would have anything to do with drugs, even if only for curiosity’s sake.

“I know that this drug, Ecstasy, is becoming fashionable in the United States, mainly among those whose lives consist of nothing more than bright lights and shallow sensations, but your life is not like that,” his Honour said. It was a dangerous drug and it was a serious crime for anyone to bring it into New Zealand, which had to be made very clear.

His Honour accepted that the girl did not know the seriousness of what she was doing. It seemed she was persuaded to take the drug by a cousin who ought to have known much better and who really ought to carry the graver responsibility. The officer in charge of the police case said that the matter should be looked at as a schoolgirl prank, but pranks involving drugs were worse than playing with fire. “I accept that being here at all is a shattering experience and a bitter lesson for you and the consequences of this stupidity of yours will be with you all your life,” said his Honour.

It had to be understood that community work was not the normally appropriate penalty for the importation of class A drugs. It was in this case, but it was not to be regarded as a bench mark.

Granting suppression of name, his Honour said he did not believe it was desirable that the conviction should become public knowledge while she was at school.