A 26-year-old man charged with possession of methamphetamine was told that he should put a little bit of thought into what may be in the drug, when he appeared in Mudgee Local Court last Wednesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jake Stephenson of Lewis Street, Mudgee, was sentenced to a 12-month Conditional Release Order.
On the morning of Wednesday, February 6, 2019, he was the passenger in a vehicle stopped for a random breath test in Byron Place, Mudgee.
While conducting checks on their Mobile Data Terminal, officers noticed that Stephenson was fidgeting and looking back at the police vehicle in the rear-view mirror.
Believing that he was trying to hide something, they questioned him during which he appeared nervous, was visibly shaking and his voice was trembling.
He tried to play this down as being uneasy around police.
Stephenson was searched and a small resealable bag containing a crystal substance fell loose, which he caught and attempted to conceal. He eventually handed it over and it was found to contain 0.5g of methamphetamine.
Magistrate David Day commented that the defendant "didn't do a very good risk assessment" and added it's unlikely he would be aware of who manufactured the drug, where it came from or what it could be cut with.
"It wouldn't be the first lot of bath salts someone had spent a lot of money on," he said. And added that use of the drug has been linked to early onset dementia.