Sentencing for alleged drug dealer deferred

Sentencing for a Welcome Bay man caught dealing a new recreational drug which gives users a similar high to methamphetamine has been adjourned.

Bryce Thomas Kamizona, 25, who has admitted possessing the Class C controlled drug methcathinone, offering to supply the drug and offering to supply cannabis, will now take place in the High Court at Rotorua on November 1.

Kamizona was found with 110 pills in his car on May 19, and a forensic analysis confirmed they contained methcathinone, although he told police he thought the tablets were just party pills.

As well as keeping some for personal use, Kamizona told police he was planning to give some of the pills to his friends and then sell the rest.

Methcathinone is being used as a substitute for MDMA, a key ingredient in ecstasy tablets because of the worldwide shortage of this illicit substance.