PSYCHOLOGIST IN TROUBLE OVER POT OFFER

Decision On Sanctions Expected Soon. Addiction Expert Found Guilty of
Offering To Get Weed For Former Patient, An Ex-Junkie.

A high-profile Montreal psychologist specializing in addictions is in
hot water with his professional order for offering to procure cannabis
for a former client.

Jean-Pierre Rochon made the offer over a breakfast meeting in April
2002, allegedly telling the man that he had contacts with the Hells
Angels.

Upset, the former client informed the syndic (investigator) of the
Quebec Order of Psychologists.

After several days of hearings, the order's disciplinary committee
last June found Rochon guilty - of both making the offer and of
breaching client confidentiality by telling the same man, while he was
still a patient, that Rochon was also treating a famous music star,
naming her by name.

A decision on sanctions in the case is expected any day, said syndic
Denys Dupuis in an interview last week.

Attempts by The Gazette to reach Rochon last week were
unsuccessful.

A message on the answering machines at his two offices - in Montreal
on Jean Talon St. E., the other in Ste. Agathe in the Laurentians -
says he is out of the country on vacation until the end of the month.

Rochon has been featured in numerous French-language media, notably in
recent years for his expertise on Internet addictions.

He is the author of Les Accros d'Internet (Internet Fanatics),
published in 2004 by Editions Libre Expression. His Web site is at:
www.psynternaute.com.

He has also given numerous workshops on addictions, including at
conferences and for the Quebec City regional health board, according
to his CV.

The patient who complained to the psychologists' order had been under
Rochon's care from 1995 to 1997 for a long-standing drug-addiction
problem.

In early 2002, he e-mailed Rochon asking for his file so he could give
it to his psychiatrist.

The two arranged to meet at a restaurant so Rochon could give it to
him.

At that meeting, Rochon told the man, "I started smoking pot again,"
the man testified before the disciplinary committee.

"I told him, 'Listen Jean-Pierre, this is the second time you told me
this, and I'll tell you what I told you the first time: you shouldn't
say that in public because it could get you in trou-ble,' " he testified.

The man told the committee that Rochon insisted that he trusted
him.

"He told me he knew someone connected to the Hells Angels, who was
able to supply pot for $220 an ounce, and that we could go together,"
the man testified, adding that he accepted Rochon's proposal, though
he felt uncomfortable.

Rochon later called the man to say he had bought the dope, the man
testified.

Upset, the man wrote Rochon: "This makes absolutely no sense, because you
specifically bill yourself as a specialist in addictions, particularly drug
addictions.

"Jean-Pierre, how can you not see that it makes absolutely no sense
that you be offering to become my pusher when you were my therapist
for more than two years - specifically because of my addiction to
cocaine and pot?"

At a hearing on penalties in September, Rochon's lawyer and syndic
Denys Dupuis jointly recommended Rochon be suspended from the order
for two months, Dupuis said.

He noted, however, that the committee is under no obligation to accept
the recommendation.