A MIDDLE-AGED Shaman from Buckfastleigh faces a possible jail term after being convicted of producing and supplying a class A drug at a healing ceremony. Peter Aziz conjured up two brews of sacred drink from jungle plants for religious rituals at a disused hotel, Bristol Crown Court heard. Aziz said he didn't realise that one ingredient - the leaf of the Chakruna plant - contained controlled the drug N-dimethyltriptamene or DMT. The 51 year old denied two counts of producing a class A drug and two counts of supplying a class A drug. [continues 295 words]
POLICE in Torbay are spearheading a new attack on the resort's drug-fuelled crime scene by inviting people to 'Rat on a Rat'. They want to harness the help of the public to catch the 'vile dealers in drugs' whose activities are directly linked to the majority of dwelling burglaries and vehicle crime across the Bay. A similar enterprise in Plymouth, launched late last year, has already been hailed a major success. Officers behind the Bay initiative are hoping to celebrate the same crime-busting results from the community. [continues 383 words]
A PREGNANT heroin addict asked a court to put her behind bars yesterday in a bid to protect her unborn baby. Seven-month pregnant Rachel Truman, 24, of Woodlands Road, Newton Abbot asked for a chance to turn her life around. Magistrates sitting at Torquay heard Truman hopes to kick her heroin habit in prison and is 'desperate' to keep her unborn child and give them a future together. She pleaded guilty to burglary and failing to answer bail at an earlier hearing. [continues 444 words]
An expelled drug-dealing schoolboy and his family are to get UKP1,750 compensation after a watchdog said Torbay Council was guilty of maladministration. The boy was kicked out of school after taking cannabis in and selling it to other students. But the Local Government Ombudsman said the council's slowness in finding a new school for the Year Ten grammar school boy, and failure to teach him at home properly while expelled, caused injustice. It has ruled that UKP1,500 should be paid towards the boy's further education. [continues 892 words]
Outspoken South Devon coroner Hamish Turner has issued his strongest warning yet about the legalisation of cannabis after dealing with three heroin inquests in as many days. Mr Turner says any moves to decriminalise cannabis will be a "retrograde step." He revealed the trio of tragedies dealt with this week involved men who had started their drugs careers on cannabis. "It's all very well talking about the legalisation of cannabis, but these cases reveal what happens to those who get involved in drugs. Two of them started on cannabis when they were 13 and the other when he was 15. They all died in their 20s." [continues 472 words]
