what are the ways to avoid --- "ERROR: EXECUTE of SELECT ... INTO is not implemented yet"

Hello experts,

I am facing this error.

mydb=> select version();
version

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PostgreSQL 8.1.9

(1 row)

mydb=> \i /tmp/test.sql
CREATE FUNCTION
mydb=> select sp_test();
ERROR: EXECUTE of SELECT ... INTO is not implemented yet
CONTEXT: PL/pgSQL function "sp_test" line 4 at execute statement

mydb=>
[1]+ Stopped su - dbu
mymachine<root># cat /tmp/test.sql
create or replace function sp_test() RETURNS void as $$
declare
l_var timestamp;
begin
execute 'SELECT NOW() INTO l_var';
end;
$$ language plpgsql;

What are the ways to avoid it
We have an idea of creating the temporary table to store the cursor values,
but this would require a huge effort.

Any alternatives?

~
Shantanu