Scot sells pain pill as party drug. No coke

JAMIE MacDowall did not have an elaborate plan when he tried to sell Panadol as cocaine in an online advertisement.

Instead, he inherited a massive headache when an undercover cop replied to his Craigslist posting and nabbed him.

“Didn’t you make a stupid decision?” said Judge Katherine McGinness in the Southport District Court yesterday.

“Yes, very stupid,” MacDowall, a Scottish national, replied.

“How you did not think you would be caught is unbelievable,” Ms McGinness continued.

MacDowall pleaded guilty to supplying dangerous drugs twice in November last year.

The court heard he posted an online classified ad that read: “Got some good coke in Surfers. $300 a g”.

He received a text from an undercover police officer that read: “Hey, looking for Cola on the GC”.

The pair met at a Cash Converters in Palm Beach on November 19 and exchanged the drugs. However, the court heard the “coke” MacDowall handed over was in fact ibuprofen.

Defence barrister Claire Boothman said her client, who was living on the Gold Coast on a holiday visa, was between jobs and sold the “drugs” because he was “desperate for money to pay for rent and food”.

MacDowall, 28, received an $800 fine and had no conviction recorded. He is expected to return to Scotland.

In sentencing, Ms McGinness said: “The court has acted leniently on you”.