PROVINCE LOOKS TO HANG UP ON DIAL-A-DOPERS WITH NEW
LEGISLATION

Selling drugs from the driver's seat will cost dealers their wheels
under legislation which could be approved this year, the province's
new solicitor general said yesterday.

The new legislation, proposed last year by Red Deer MLA Mary Anne
Jablonski, would see dial-a-dopers lose their cars on the spot.

The drug dealer law is similar to Bill 206, which was implemented
last Oct. 23 and gives cops the power to confiscate vehicles from
johns caught soliciting prostitutes.

Solicitor General Fred Lindsay said Bill 206 has been an effective
tool and he thinks the dial-a-doper solution would also be successful.

"Police already have the authority to do that ... the proceeds from
crimes legislation is already in place," he said.

"But this would make it even easier to do that."

Dial-a-dopers carve niches by being available via telephone and
delivering drugs.

They are a large part of the booming market for crack cocaine in the
city, according to police, as the drug becomes popular with people
who tend not to frequent street dealers.

Lindsay said he hopes the proposal will become law during the coming
spring sitting of the legislature.