A Tasmanian man who imported MDMA from the Netherlands using his partner’s parents’ address has avoided jail after a judge accepted his decade-long sobriety was undone by family tragedy.
Aaron Scott Douglas, 50, was sentenced to nine months of home detention in the Supreme Court after pleading guilty to importing 67 ecstasy tablets in a package intercepted by border officials in August 2020.
The parcel, addressed to a fictional ‘Melissa Carter’, contained 9.1 grams of pure MDMA – 18 times the marketable quantity.
Douglas paid for the drugs with cryptocurrency and, from a caravan park across the road, watched the letterbox for their delivery, the court heard.
He first told police the pills were just for him and his partner, but investigators later found evidence on his phone showing he intended to sell some of the stash.
The court heard Douglas had stayed clean for nearly 10 years before his sister’s death. After losing his job as a carpenter, he turned to methamphetamine.
“Unfortunately, your sister became unwell and then passed away about six months prior to committing this offence,” Justice Kate Cuthbertson said.
“This affected your attendance at work and ultimately you lost your employment.”
Douglas has battled drug addiction since he was 18, with convictions for possession, driving under the influence and dishonesty offences.
He spent years on opiate replacement therapy and completed multiple rehab programs. But between 2010 and 2020, he managed to stay drug-free.
Since being charged, Douglas has rebuilt his life. The court heard he has been diagnosed with ADHD, reconnected with three of his four children and maintained stable housing.
Justice Cuthbertson said while drug importation normally attracted “stern punishment”, Douglas’s case fell at the low end of seriousness.
“The quantity of drugs was not great,” she said. “You are to be sentenced on the basis that there was a commercial motivation involved, but I accept you were intending to use a quantity of the drug yourself.”
Douglas will wear an electronic monitoring device and must submit to random drug tests.
