Pubdate: Fri, 16 May 2014
Source: Nelson Mail, The (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2014 Fairfax New Zealand Limited
Contact:  http://www.nelsonmail.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1069

FIRST CONVICTION UNDER DRUG LAW

A Hamilton woman has become the first person in the country to be
convicted under new law banning the sale of formerly legal highs.

Nikita Awhina Pender, 19, pleaded guilty in the Hamilton District
Court today, to one charge of selling a prohibited substance under
amended psychoactive substance law.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of two years'
jail.

She was convicted and remanded on bail for sentencing next
month.

Her partner Jason Graeme McConnochie, 31, facing the same charge, was
remanded without plea on bail, with a condition that he not associate
with Pender.

He is to reappear in court next month.

Police allegedly found the pair in possession of close to 200 packets
of psychoactive substances and hundreds of dollars in cash between May
7 and May 8, just one day after the new law came into effect.

They were arrested after police received a tip-off they were allegedly
selling the substances from a Hamilton motel.

In total, 196 packets of unsold product and $680 cash were found,
police said.

It became illegal to sell, supply or possess psychoactive substances,
including synthetic cannabis under The Psychoactive Substances
Amendment Bill, which was passed under urgency in Parliament last week.

The new law bans 41 products given interim approval under legislation
passed last year. grace after he was caught growing cannabis, the New
Plymouth District Court heard yesterday. Cox, 72, who is believed to
have been suspended since his arrest, is now very unlikely to continue
in his job of 30 or more years. Cox was yesterday convicted and
sentenced to a fine totalling $1100 plus court costs after he pleaded
guilty to three charges  cultivating and possessing cannabis and
unlawfully possessing a .22 semi-automatic rifle. The police
conservatively estimated that the cannabis, if sold on the street,
would have been worth $16,000.  
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