MAN GOT CACTUS DRUG ON INTERNET

An Auckland technician has been given a one-year suspended jail term for
importing a drug used by the Aztec Indians 3000 years ago.

Christopher Bruce Fraser, 32, of Taupaki, was also sentenced to four
months' periodic detention when he appeared in the High Court at Auckland
yesterday.

Fraser, represented by Anna Johns, had pleaded guilty to importing
mescaline, a class-A drug.

Justice Peter Salmon said Fraser had ordered the cactus plant material
containing the drug via the internet from a Californian address.

No attempt had been made to disguise the nature of the import.

When inspected by staff of the Institute of Environmental Science and
Research, the green plant material, weighing 69.7g, was found to contain
trimethoxyphenethylamine, commonly known as mescaline.

Justice Salmon said he had no information as to the concentration of the
drug within the plant or the amount needed to be ingested to produce any
effect.

Fraser, who was likely to lose his job if imprisoned, had co-operated with
the police and had expressed his remorse and spoken of how stupid he had been.

Justice Salmon said that despite the seriousness of the offence, this was
one of those very rare cases where the offender could be left at liberty.

Mescaline which has hallucinogenic properties, is found in varieties of
cactus plants from Central America.

When the crown of the cactus is sliced off and dried, it forms a hard disc
known as a "button" which is chewed for its hallucinogenic effects. The
Conquistadors enacted the first anti-drug laws aimed at wiping out Indian
use of the plant, which the Spanish believed was linked to cannibalism and
witchcraft.