A police prosecutor who used methamphetamine and posted photographs of his drug use online has been struck off as a lawyer.
Brent William Thomson was ordered to be struck off by the The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal after he admitted a charge brought by the Law Society.
The charge was that he had been convicted of offences punishable by imprisonment and the convictions tended to reflect on his fitness to practise, or tended to bring his profession into disrepute, Law Society president Chris Moore said.
Thomson was convicted of use and possession of methamphetamine and possession of cannabis. He had pleaded guilty to the offences and was convicted and fined $450 at a sentencing in January.
The tribunal accepted that the drugs were for his personal use and the offending occurred in his personal time, Mr Moore said.
It said a concerning aspect of the offending was that Thomson was employed as a police prosecutor at the time, he said.
He had also posted videos of his drug use on a website.
While Thomson had fully cooperated with all investigations and admitted guilt at the earliest possible opportunity, no penalty short of striking off would properly reflect the seriousness or protect the public, in the absence of reliable material to suggest another rehabilitative course, Mr Moore said.
"Lawyers must appreciate that they are required to maintain high standards of behaviour in their personal lives as well as professionally.
"Anyone who fails in this lets down the whole legal profession."
Thomson was a prosecutor based at Auckland central police station at the time of the offending.
