STIFF SENTENCE FOR METH DEALER

A Regina judge passed down a hefty sentence to a man charged with
trafficking crystal methamphetamine, in hopes of dissuading others from
"distributing this pestilence."

"The accused and the public need to know that yielding to this particular
temptation is dangerous indeed," said Judge Linton Smith, in passing down a
three-year sentence to Terry Joseph Nameth.

Nameth, 39, had previously pleaded guilty to numerous charges, including
weapons offenses, assault, possession of counterfeit money and trafficking
crystal methamphetamine, when he appeared in Provincial Court for
sentencing Thursday. Smith said he would have considered an even longer
term but thought it "unseemly" for the court to impose a penalty more
severe than what the Crown had requested.

He made no finding on the dangerousness of crystal meth compared to other
drugs, which had inadvertently become a central part of Nameth's trial as
Smith tried to determine how seriously the drug offense should be treated
by the courts. On Thursday, he said that had already been done by Parliament.

Nameth was first arrested in Saskatoon on March 2004, when police found 218
grams of crystal meth and an unregistered shotgun in his vehicle. A
subsequent search of his Regina home turned up another 16 grams of meth,
real and counterfeit money, ammunition and guns, including an AK-47 and an UZI.

Soon after his release from custody, Nameth assaulted a man with a cup and
went on to commit various breaches of his release conditions. In November
2004, Nameth led police on a high speed chase that, at one point, had
Nameth driving the wrong way down a highway outside Regina. Nameth finally
drove his car into a marsh and was arrested after being tazered and pepper
sprayed by police at the scene. He's been in custody since that incident.

In sentencing, Smith said much of Nameth's behaviour had to do with
prolonged exposure to crystal meth, and he gave Nameth credit for family
support, time in custody and the suffering he's already gone through
because of meth. Nonetheless, Smith said he was passing down the three-year
sentence with the safety of the public in mind.

In addition to his time in custody, Nameth has to forfeit the seized money
and firearms and will have a one-year driving suspension and a ten-year
firearm prohibition.

Defense lawyer Doug Andrews said he was "massively disappointed" with the
sentence, and would have liked to see a lesser jail term followed by a
lengthy period of drug treatment.

"The literature would all seem to indicate that's the most important thing,
and that jail is just extensive warehousing in the case of people who were
or are addicted to methamphetamine," he said, calling a penitentiary term
without treatment "of no value."

Andrews also took issue with the court's characterization of meth as a
dangerous drug-- particularly in the absence of a proper definition of
"dangerous" -- and said parliament has already set up categories for
considering drugs, so it shouldn't be done by judges or lawyers.

He said media attention has given the impression that "the sky is falling
because of meth amphetamine," but that the drug has been around for
decades, and simply comes in and out of favour.

Crown prosecutor Hal Wellsch said he was pleased with the verdict.