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.
