5 NZ soldiers discharged & 3 prosecuted over 2015 DNM NBOMe use

"Two soldiers appear in court martial accused of taking 'N-Bomb'":

Lance Corporal Joshua Mapson, 31, and Private Barclay Bishop, 22, pleaded not guilty in a court martial on Tuesday to doing an act likely to prejudice service discipline. Mapson and Bishop were two of eight soldiers taken into custody over Labour Weekend in Palmerston North after they were found acting strangely in the city centre and were suspected to be under the influence of drugs.

[image] Police seized this sheet of "N-Bomb," psychedelic drug tabs imported by a off a Silk Road-like website.

...Defence lawyer Major Steve Taylor said Bishop did not know he was consuming N-Bomb. He said Bishop did not dismiss the possibility he may have had a drink that was spiked. Defence lawyer Michael Bott said Mapson also thought his drink may have been spiked. "Or he drunk someone else's drink in the small hours of the morning, there was no intention, he did not know what was in the drink." Ruane said in his opening statement the group had been attending a barbecue on October 24 as a late birthday celebration for Bishop. There was discussion among the group about buying ecstasy and one soldier said he could get them some. Ruane said at The Daily nightclub in Palmerston North the soldier met someone outside and purchased ecstasy, then members of the group took what they thought was ecstasy...A witness who was with the group that night, who has name suppression, said they had heard a discussion about organising ecstasy that night...One of the men who took N-bomb, who has name suppression, said he did not remember taking the drug...He said he remembered one of the group bringing up the idea of buying ecstasy, but he did not remember taking any drugs, or seeing anyone else take drugs.

...One witness said he felt the situation was unfair to those soldiers involved. "From the beginning I believe we were destined to be...discharged, whether we were found guilty, innocent or in-between. Because, I was never found guilty and I was discharged." Five soldiers were discharged from the army after the incident and another was dismissed earlier this year after following a court martial.

"'N-bomb' soldiers to be sent to military prison but remain in army"

Lance Corporal Joshua Mapson, 31, and Private Barclay Bishop, 22, pleaded not guilty in a court martial at Linton Military Camp on Tuesday to doing an act likely to prejudice service discipline...Both were sentenced to 14 days in the Defence Force's correctional facility in Burnham but were not dismissed from the army...Private Luke Brame, 22, went to court martial and pleaded guilty in February to supplying the psychoactive substance N-bomb, doing an act likely to prejudice service discipline and offering to supply a psychoactive substance. He was dismissed from the army and sentenced to 90 days detention in the defence force's correctional facility in Burnham.

Reading it a little more closely, I'm not 100% sure this is a DNM case. The unnamed participant soldier says he "could get some" but then they "met someone outside and purchased" it; the blotter image here may not be the blotter in question but just some old photograph the journalist grabbed to serve as illustration. Still, it seems like a lot of NBOMe in AU/NZ is bought on the DNMs, so...


Comments


[1 Points] ReamTeam513:

Whenever I heard "N-Bomb" the first thing that comes to mind is not drugs..


[1 Points] None:

How come you deleted this, /u/gwern?


[1 Points] SlappySpanBank:

New Zealand Soldiers? Lol


[0 Points] BigFatCat_DNM:

Fuck that shit