MAN WARNED OVER IMPORTING DRUG COMPOUNDS OFF INTERNET

Ignorance of the law was no excuse for people who bought substances off the
Internet and imported them into Australia, ACT Magistrate Karen Fryar said
yesterday.

Magistrate Fryar issued the warning when sentencing a 25-year-old Downer
man who was convicted of importing a prohibited substance, which can be
used to make the designer drug Fantasy, last June.

Kevin Selkirk Russell, an information-technology contractor who was a
former employee of the Department of Employment, Education, Training and
Youth Affairs, ordered gamma butyrolactone and sodium hydroxide off the
Internet, from what he thought was a reputable pharmaceutical company in
the United States.

Russell claimed that he did not know that what he was buying was illegal.

When gamma butyrolactone and sodium hydroxide are mixed together they
create 4-hydroxybutanoic, otherwise known as the hallucinogenic drug
Fantasy, which recently killed people in NSW.

The court heard earlier that Russell said he had researched the legality of
the drug on the Internet, finding out that it was legal in the United
Kingdom and parts of the US.

He had searched the Australian Customs Service homepage for gamma
butyrolactone but could not find it listed under prohibited substances.

It is an offence under the Customs Act 1900 to import 4-hydroxybutanoic
acid or anything that can create it.

Magistrate Fryar said that Russell was a truthful witness but 'he did know
he was importing gamma butyrolactone and it was that act which was
illegal'. 'He was ignorant of the law, but that is no excuse,' she said.
'People who import substances having ordered them through the Internet must
take care to comply with the laws of Australia.'

She found the offence proved but no offence was recorded. Russell received
a $1000 12-month good behaviour bond.