Court of Appeal finds drug legislation does not cover ‘pure’ form of fantasy, overturns conviction for dealing 200L

The State Government has called for an emergency briefing after a landmark ruling left anyone trafficking large ‘pure’ quantities of designer drugs facing massively reduced sentences.

The Attorney-General has called for an emergency briefing after a landmark ruling placed dozens of prosecutions of individuals caught with large quantities of designer drugs in doubt.

The Court of Appeal ruled that as SA legislation does not have a quantity for “pure” forms of more than a hundred drugs - people in possession of pure quantities could not be convicted of trafficking large commercial and commercial quantities of the drugs.

The ruling came after an Adelaide couple was convicted of trafficking 200L of the drug fantasy worth half a million dollars.

The Court of Appeal overturned the couple’s conviction for trafficking a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug after they found that SA’s drug control legislation did not cover ‘pure’ quantities of fantasy.

Instead, under the Controlled Substances Act you can only traffic commercial and large commercial amounts of ‘mixed’ fantasy.

The ruling reduces the maximum penalty the pair were facing from life in prison to a potential 15 years.

On a larger level the ruling affects current and future prosecutions, including people arrested and charged with trafficking huge amounts of pure fantasy and other designer drugs as part of Operation Ironside.

Large blue containers which originally held half a million dollars worth of fantasy. Picture: District Court

Police photos tendered during the trial of a man and a woman showing the containers which had held half a million dollars worth of the drug fantasy. Picture: District Court.

Attorney-General Kyam Maher said the government had called for an urgent briefing over the implication of the finding.

The shipment of fantasy – which was in eight 25L containers across four wooden containers – was intercepted in Melbourne and swapped out for water.

The couple, whose names have been suppressed, were monitored by police as they picked up the tubs from outside a property in the Adelaide Hills.

The man was then followed by police as he distributed the contents of the tubs around Adelaide before being arrested.

Both pleaded not guilty to attempting to traffic a large commercial quantity of fantasy.

The ‘attempted’ part of the charge was laid because the couple were never in possession of the drug itself, only the substituted water.

During the trial in the District Court, which was conducted before a jury, a man stood up and shouted “just because (the man) is a dealer and he has been in jail and he’s a full club member doesn’t meant he’s guilty”.

The man left the court and was later arrested and charged with contempt. He was later jailed after it emerged he had been paid to try and interrupt the trial.

Judge Gordon Barrett closed the court for the rest of the hearings, but did not allow a mistrial as requested by lawyers for all three accused.

The couple were found guilty at trial and a third man was acquitted.

Large blue containers which originally held half a million dollars worth of pure fantasy.

During the appeal Andrew Graham, for the man, told Supreme Court that the legislation surrounding fantasy did not allow for large commercial quantities of the “pure” form of the drug.

“This judgment will likely have significant consequences for both existing and previous prosecutions,” he said.

“Unless prosecution can prove that fantasy type drugs have been mixed or adulterated, they cannot prove that persons possessed commercial or large commercial quantities of those drugs. “Many ‘Ironside’ prosecutions that rely wholly on intercepted text messages, without actual drugs being seized will be frustrated.

“It is likely that many convicted persons will be closely looking at their matters to see if they have grounds to appeal.”

The Court of Appeal, consisting of Chief Justice Chris Kourakis and Justices David Lovell and Sophie David unanimously allowed the appeal on the ground that the charges could not be made out.

Chief Justice Kourakis in his leading opinion wrote that many of the drugs listed in the Controlled Substances act did not have a prescribed “pure” amount of the drug.

“More commonly seized and therefore probably more commonly used drugs like amphetamine, methylamphetamine and cannabis do have prescribed amounts for their pure form,” he wrote.

The court ordered the couple stand trial again on the lesser charge of attempting to traffic a controlled drug.