Court confusion over 'legal' party drug
Steve Butcher
December 30, 2010 - 7:30AM
THE legal status of a new ecstasy-like party drug linked to deaths overseas is causing confusion in the Victorian justice system.
Mephedrone, also known as "meow meow", first appeared in Europe in 2007 and has since been linked to up to 25 deaths in Britain.
Meow meow, which has acute psychological and physical effects, was banned this month by the European Union.
It is an offence punishable by jail under Australian federal laws to import or possess it, but Victoria remains the only jurisdiction that does not specifically list it as a controlled drug.
Victoria Police last night confirmed the drug was not listed in the Victorian Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act, and it would prosecute its importation under federal law.
A federal government-funded study published this month found that the drug's increased use was driven by its "legal status".
"In the recent past, mephedrone, also known as 4-methylmethcathinone or 4-MMC (and other synthetic cathinones) have not been controlled substances in many countries and have been freely available for purchase as 'research chemicals' or 'plant food' either online or in shops which sell 'legal highs'," the authors reported for the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
While its status is under review, a Commonwealth prosecutor recently told a Victorian County Court judge there was ambiguity and uncertainty over the drug under Victorian law.
Judge Jane Patrick remarked in discussion with prosecutor Megan Lawler-Cooper over sentencing for a man who imported the drug that the "tricky thing about this is whether it's an illegal drug or not".
Judge Patrick said: "It's a bit uncertain if it's an illegal drug in Victoria."
Three days later, when another man pleaded guilty to importing 4-MMC, his barrister, Colin Mandy, told a magistrate it was "debatable whether this drug is caught by this [Victorian] act".
The drug is a border-controlled drug under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, where it is listed as an analogue of methcathinone. Under schedule 11 of the Victorian act, methylamino-propiophenone is listed with "methcathinone" alongside in brackets. What has not been tested or resolved in Victoria is whether 4-MMC is "salts, derivatives or isomers" of drugs specified in schedule 11.
A forensic physician recently told a Melbourne court its effects included euphoria, excitement, empathy and talkativeness, and excessive use could lead to aggression, agitation, excitability and mania, while deaths have been reported. Cathinone comes from the khat plant.
Malich Coory, 20, of Greenvale, pleaded guilty before Judge Patrick to importing 753 grams and possessing 1.5 kilograms of 4-MMC, while Dale Ullrich, 32, of Avondale Heights, pleaded guilty to importing 330 grams.
Customs officers in 2009 intercepted packages to the men from overseas. Coory's father, Phillip, told defence barrister Tony Burns his son indicated the packages were health supplements and he did not believe he would be prosecuted.
Ullrich told federal police he thought it was a grey area. He said: "In other words, [customs] were going to destroy it for you for free and that's it [no legal ramifications]."
Sanjeev Gaya, a forensic physician at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, said in a statement tendered at Ullrich's committal hearing that 4-MMC was taken orally, snorted or injected and was "abused" as an alternative to amphetamine-related drugs.
Coory will be sentenced next year while Ullrich was ordered to appear later in the County Court.
The Age
