A YOUTH who pooled resources with another man to buy the potentially lethal drug ecstasy has paid the price with nine months in prison.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Allan Parry, 24, had 40 tablets of the drug underneath a single bed at home and claimed he had bought them the previous day with his brother.

Sentencing him, Recorder Heather Lloyd said Parry had not made any commercial gain whatsoever.

She added ecstasy could kill people and the fact it was in common usage did not make it any less serious.

Parry, of Parklands Way, Blackburn, admitted possessing ecstasy with intent to supply.

Kevin Donnelly, prosecuting, said last July police found the tablets bearing the logo which had come to be associated with ecstasy related drugs.

The defendant accepted the possession of drugs and claimed he had bought them the previous day with his brother. He said £100 had been pooled and the drugs were going to be split.

Anthony Cross, defending, said the case did not cross the custody threshold. There was "not a whiff," of any suggestion of commercial supply and none of the usual paraphernalia that went with it.

The tablets were worth about £100. He and the other person simply put their cash together, went to the dealer together and bought the drugs together. They were simply kept under the bed so the supply was technical.