FAITH, DOPE AND CHARITY

TWO young Mormon missionaries were taken to hospital after unwittingly
eating hash cookies offered at a home they visited, a court heard yesterday.

The young men each ate about a dozen cookies prepared by one of the men who
lived at the Mt Waverley house.

Sen-Constable Russ Hammill told Dandenong Magistrates' Court the Mormons
took themselves to Monash Medical Centre and were admitted overnight.

He said medical examinations revealed they were suffering from cannaboid
intoxication.

He said they had never used cannabis before and its effect on them resulted
in serious injury.

The court heard police searched the Olympian Ave house two weeks later and
found cannabis, seeds and hydroponic equipment.

The court heard one of the men who lived at the house, Douglas James Lynch,
told them he could not remember offering the Mormons any cookies. Both
alleged victims identified Alexander McLean as the one who offered the cookies.

Mr McLean, 46, and Mr Lynch, 40, face charges including conduct endangering
a person and introducing a substance of dependence.

Magistrate John Bolster adjourned the case for a contested hearing on
December 13.