Post Falls man guilty of making drugs in England

BOISE – An Idaho man has been found guilty in England of charges related to making several illegal hallucinogenic drugs in what authorities there called “a sophisticated drug operation,” according to the Argus newspaper in the southern England resort town of Brighton.

Casey Hardison, a former University of Idaho student from Post Falls, was accused during the 10-week trial of producing several mind-altering drugs with a potential street value of about $9.5 million.

The jury deliberated five hours before finding him guilty of making the illegal drugs 2CB, DMT and LSD. He was accused of making the drugs in a home laboratory in a bedroom of his rented bungalow in a Sussex village.

Hardison, 33, who said during the trial that he believes hallucinogenic drugs should be legal, told the Lewes Crown Court that he earned the equivalent of $237,000 from his illegal experiments, the paper said.

But he refused to plead guilty, telling the court that taking psychoactive drugs was an innocent act and the only crime he had committed was against the state. Hardison, an American citizen, argued the law was wrong and urged the jury to acquit him.

He was caught after he mailed to a Post Falls’ address a package that contained four bags of the drug known as Ecstasy worth about $7,600 hidden between the pages of a magazine. It was opened during a routine check by customs in July 2003.

He’s due to be sentenced April 15, the paper reported.

“You are a highly intelligent, articulate and talented man,” Judge Anthony Niblett told Hardison. “Tragically, you have used those talents for illegal purposes.”