That year’s supply of cannabis, intended for recreational and medicinal use, was intercepted somewhere along the supply chain from Nelson to the North Island.
In May of this year, he couriered the two vacuum-sealed bags of cannabis that weighed about 460 grams in total.
He used an alias to send the package, but instead of using his parents’ names, he sent it to their house using the name of his father’s friend – something he had done a few times before.
This time, the package went missing and soon after, Andrew received a call from the police.
“The police called me up early one Sunday morning and said, ‘We’ve intercepted a package – do you know what it’s about’?
“I said ‘I do’. There was no point in denying it.”
Andrew isn’t sure how the package was discovered, but it’s possible he was a bit heavy handed with the essential oil used to disguise the cannabis aroma in the package.
“Maybe I perfumed it too much. Maybe they thought it was a bit suspicious because it smelled way too much of lavender.”
Police later told him it was possible the courier company had used CCTV to trace the package back to him.
The courier company he used, Aramex New Zealand, told Open Justice that it delivers thousands of packages to customers across the country every day and had devised several ways to identify suspicious packages, including marking packages that emit strong or strange odors, such as chemicals designed to mask odors from easily detectable odors such as cannabis.
Other tell-tale signs that something is wrong are packages with no return address, too much packing tape or twine.
“In the rare event that a package is flagged as suspicious, Aramex takes every precaution to ensure it is thoroughly investigated by authorities, eliminating any potential risk or harm to the intended recipient, delivery teams and the community,” said a spokesman.
After the police called, Andrew was questioned and charged with possession of cannabis for supply.
The charges were dismissed after he completed a Te Pae Oranga Iwi Community Panel diversion program.
The iwi panels have been set up as an alternative way for police and iwi/Māori partners to tackle crime and prevent recidivism.
Police say the scheme is available to people of all ethnicities, from all walks of life.
Andrew, who is of Ngāti Porou descent but admits identifying more as Pākehā, said it was through his lawyer that the iwi panel was recommended, and the police agreed.
He told Open Justice that it has been an interesting insight into how the justice system works and what he believes is inequity in access to justice, based on his demographics.
He was denied legal aid because of what he earns as an educator and instead spent $1500 on legal counseling.
“I could afford a good lawyer, and I think my background helped, and the fact that the cannabis went to my parents.
“There were a few extenuating circumstances.”
On the same day Andrew was due to appear in court again this month, just after the charges were dismissed, Joshua Duff was found guilty and sentenced to 140 hours community service and 12 months supervision on charges of possession of 58 grams of pre-delivery cannabis.
He was caught during a routine police check one September evening; their suspicions were aroused by the strong smell of cannabis emanating from the car he was in.
Police searched the vehicle and found several ziplock bags inside the car and in the glove compartment.
The self-employed plasterer told police his reason for possessing the cannabis was that he “needed to make some money”, while his lawyer defended that “it was not the largest amount ever sold by anyone”.
Andrew says he has been a regular user of cannabis since he was 16 and stresses the need for wider conversations about its use to prevent harm to young people.
“Because we don’t have a framework to treat it as a health problem, we leave it to the black market and unscrupulous people to determine how it is spread.”
Andrew’s case was aided by his clean record and the amount of volunteer work he does in the community, which were also factors in his eligibility for the Iwi Community Panel, which uses tikanga and kaupapa Māori and restorative justice practices.
The panel overseeing Andrew’s case consisted of the police and two local kaumātua.
“It was pretty easy.
“It took about 45 minutes; the police questioned me, they looked at my lack of criminal record and my involvement in volunteering in the community.
“They (the panel) almost apologized that I had to go through the process.”
Andrew says one of the conditions imposed was that he donate to charity.
He says he offered to pay $1,000 to a local charity that provides food packages for families, but the panel set the figure at $500.
“I should have done that anyway, so I just paid it.
“I also had to write an apology letter to the police, which was fine – I just said I was sorry I wasted their time.”
The apology he had to write to the courier company wasn’t that easy, he says.
“It just was…not really.”
Andrew says he won’t be posting cannabis again.
“I’ve already suggested to my parents that they get their cannabis on prescription now.”
*Andrew is not his real name, but has been used to protect his identity in accordance with the Diversion process.
-By Tracy Neal
Open Justice multimedia journalist