Man Feeds Family Chocolates Laced with Ecstasy
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand school teacher, unable to resist the lure of a mystery package of chocolates in his mailbox, inadvertently fed his relatives the illicit party drug ecstasy, police said on Monday.
The man found the parcel, which was addressed to someone else and had a British postmark, in his mailbox in the South Island city of Christchurch, constable Greg Sutherland told Reuters.
The parcel contained 16 chocolates and a note saying ``I thought you'd enjoy these. I know they're your favorites!''
The man helped himself to three of the chocolates with no apparent ill-effects before giving one each to his sister and brother-in-law.
``Soon after (they) felt the ``weird'' effects of the drug. They opened up more of the chocolates and found the small round tablets wrapped up in gladwrap (plastic food wrap) inside the chocolate,'' Sutherland said, adding that tests showed at least 10 of the chocolates contained ecstasy.
The family were ``extremely worried'' by the experience but have subsequently received a clean bill of health from a doctor.
``Obviously, the three people who ate the chocolates are not going to be charged with possession -- they'd never even heard of ecstasy,'' Sutherland added.
Also known as MDMA, ecstasy is an amphetamine that has both stimulant and hallucinogenic effects in humans and is popular among adolescents and young adults who attend ``rave'' dance parties, clubs and rock concerts.
Most ecstasy in New Zealand is sourced from Western Europe and is smuggled in through the mail system, health officials say.
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