DEALER SENTENCED TO SPEAK ABOUT DRUGS

A 19-year-old convicted drug dealer from Coquitlam has been ordered to
speak to young people about the dangers of narcotics as part of his
conditional sentence order.

Last month, Port Coquitlam provincial court Judge Bruce Dyer also
ordered Mario Kraljevic to perform 125 hours of community service
after he pleaded guilty to selling crack cocaine.

A warrant was issued for Kraljevic's arrest in April during an RCMP
crackdown of an organized drug ring called the Red Scorpions, which
operated in Coquitlam, Port Moody, Burnaby and New Westminster.
Members identified themselves with a tattoo that had the letters RS on
their wrist, neck or shoulder. The eight-month investigation -- named
Project E-Poisoned -- resulted in 10 people being charged with
trafficking cocaine.

Kraljevic, who had no criminal record at the time, was charged with
three counts of dealing crack but the other two charges were later
stayed.

According to a transcript released this week, the court heard
undercover police met Kraljevic twice in 2005 to buy the drug and,
each time, he sold them about a half gram of crack.

The judge noted Kraljevic believed his actions were wrong and left for
Europe later that year; he returned this past summer "to face the
music" and was arrested soon after, Dyer said.

Despite Kraljevic's mitigating factors, Dyer noted the highly
addictive substance he sold "does not add value to the lives of users,
only misery. People who are involved in the sale of it, I think, are
taken to know that that is what they are bringing about every time in
the life of every customer who buys it from them."

Dyer also pointed out the taxpayers' expense for police investigations
of this size "and that money could, as everyone knows, be well spent
for some better purpose."

The conditional sentence order will be followed by a six-month
probation.

As well, the judge told Kraljevic to spend time in a detox facility to
talk to people about addictions "so that you can learn more about the
horrors of the trade that you foolishly became involved in."