As per the usual requirements of the Young Adults List, Saunders must first complete a police-approved intervention plan to address his offending. In his case, it includes 150 hours community work and counselling for alcohol and other drug issues.
In setting the number of community work hours, Judge Bolstad said she took into account Saunders’ full-time work commitments.
Whether the court ultimately grants his application will depend on his progress with the intervention plan and whether his case meets the usual legal requirements for the waiver.
Meanwhile, Saunders was further remanded on bail to appear again by AV-link on June 29, for his progress to be monitored.
Saunders was one of only two people arrested at R’n’V last year. The other arrest was for someone who allegedly committed an assault in a carpark.
Details about the quantities and chemical status of the drugs Saunders was caught with have not yet been traversed in court and police declined to comment while the case was still progressing.
■ The NZ Drug Foundation, which had an on-site drug testing team at the concert venue, urged caution after paper tabs that were being sold as LSD were found to actually be the potent psychedelic and stimulant, 25B-NBOH.
Secondary testing by ESR confirmed it.
The drug was found on tabs of different colours and patterns and had come from more than one region.
Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm told media at the time that LSD — commonly referred to as “acid” — was generally regarded as a lower-harm substance. However, 25B-NBOH was “a relatively new drug”, with little known about its toxicity.
“. . . but we can take clues from similar drugs, such as 25I-NBOMe, which has caused hospitalisations and deaths worldwide,” Ms Helm said.
“25B-NBOH can be active even at very tiny doses, so it’s difficult to dose accurately and may increase your risk of overdose.”
Thousands of samples were tested by drug checking services like KnowYourStuff, ESR, NZNEP and the Drug Foundation over summer.
The NZ Drug Foundation checked 748 samples at the Rhythm and Vines festival over the New Year period. KnowYourStuffNZ provided drug checking at several other festivals around the country.
“These 25B-NBOH samples prove drug-checking’s worth, having clearly prevented serious harm to people who would have otherwise taken them,” Ms Helm said.
“However, we are very concerned there are likely to still be quantities of this drug in the community. It’s one we’re particularly concerned about so we’re asking people to proceed with caution if planning to take tabs that they’ve bought as LSD.”
Ms Helms said other drugs identified at R&V last year included known synthetic canthinones: cyputylone, dimethylpentylone, eutylone and n-ethylpentylone.
“One of the perils of drugs being banned rather than regulated is that it acts as an incentive on the illegal market to create new, novel and more potent substances,” she said.
The Drug Foundation encouraged people to get their drugs checked — “whether they are tabs, powders or crystals,” Ms Helm said.
