A young man caught with 250 MDMA capsules, two bags of cannabis, and ketamine will appeal a jail sentence.
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Taris Haas, 27, was stopped by police at the Meredith Music Festival in December 2018, after reports he was selling drugs to festival goers.
A search of his bag revealed the ziplock bags of cannabis, and he was arrested and taken to the Meredith police station.
A further search revealed the capsules, bags of ketamine, and $1450 in cash.
He made full admissions when interviewed.
At the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and dealing with proceeds of crime.
The court was told Haas had no priors and had become desperate to pay his mortgage after leaving his job for another opportunity which he did not get.
"It's obviously no party when young people are losing their lives."
He had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, which his lawyer said was no excuse.
His father was called as a witness, who spoke about the offending being out of character and the effect it has had on the family.
"He took the opportunity to make money in an unlawful way," his defence lawyer said.
"He's very much aware of the serious position he finds himself in."
Magistrate Gregory Robinson noted Haas' condition, but said something needed to be done to stop an "increasing" problem.
"The consequences of this type of offending became painstakingly obvious over summer with quite a number of young people being severely injured by drugs, not just in Victoria, but across Australia," he said.
"I know that these drugs in particular are considered party drugs, in comparison to ice and heroin, but needless to say, it's illegal to use them.
"It's obviously no party when young people are losing their lives."
He added if it weren't for young people like Haas, serious organised criminals would not be able to sell the drugs at all.
"I acknowledge that Haas was only a middleman, but he consciously chose to break the law - he went to this music festival in an organised way determined to sell drugs to people, it wasn't passive," Mr Robinson said.
"It's not unique, it seems to be a common feature of these festivals where organised criminals use young people to sell their drugs.
"They tell them they won't be caught or sent to prison based on their prior history, they inveigle them into selling because they tell them jail will not be the result."
Haas was convicted and sentenced to two weeks in jail.
He was then bailed pending an appeal, with Haas to take his case to the County Court.
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