A 76-year-old grandmother and her 55-year-old daughter have
been caught selling the illegal party drug BZP over the
counter from their Nelson gift shop.
Christine Edna Young, 55, and her mother Shirley Adeline
Williams, 76, were each sentenced in Nelson District Court
yesterday to eight months' home detention after earlier
admitting a charge of selling BZP to people over the age of
18, the Nelson Mail reported.
BZP is an amphetamine-type drug used in party pills and was
made illegal in 2008.
Young, who the Crown said was the main offender, was also
ordered to do 180 hours' community work.
The women sold BZP over the counter from September to January
25 this year from their Richmond gift shop Something
Different, which also sells a range of soft toys, T-shirts,
Tarot cards and incense.
A police search found BZP with an estimated street value of
$20,000.
Young admitted selling capsules of the drug for $20 each and
took between $600 and $800 a week.
She said she got back into selling the drug because of
financial difficulty and to provide for her mother and
family.
Judge Tony Zohrab said Williams sold the drugs over the
counter from time to time but was unaware of the drugs in the
other part of the house and didn't benefit financially from
the sale of the drugs.
The offending was not victimless and he warned the women they
would go to jail if they tried a similar escapade again.
"In many respects this would almost be a comedy ... if it
wasn't so serious," Judge Zohrab said.
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