ACCUSED SAYS HE TAUGHT 'RESPONSIBLE' DRUG USE

A former RCMP constable who gave marijuana to two teenaged boys in North
Vancouver told a judge Friday he was only trying to teach them how to use
the drug responsibly.

Both boys were 14 at the time, and Scott Randall Simpson told the mothers
who were trying to raise the boys alone that he would be a "big brother" to
them.

According to federal justice department lawyer John Cliffe, the ex-Mountie
smoked joints about once a week with the boys. When he moved from Richmond
to a North Vancouver basement suite, he asked one of the boys to buy
marijuana for him because he didn't have alocal dealer, Cliffe said.

Simpson, who spoke in his own defence, said the boy was smoking before,
during and after school, and was "on a constant quest for more."

"I was just trying to teach him [that] if you're going to do it, be
responsible," said Simpson, explaining that he asked the boy to use
marijuana at night, after he had finished his homework.

Judge W. J. Diebolt, who is to impose sentence on Dec. 24, is being asked
by the prosecution for a six-month sentence on top of the one month in jail
already being served, on the grounds that Simpson breached the trust given
to him as a police officer.

Simpson pleaded guilty to marijuana trafficking - a charge that includes
the act of giving marijuana to someone else. Both the prosecution and
defence agree that no money was exchanged when Simpson shared the pot.

The RCMP began investigating last January, after a suspicious North
Vancouver school principal contacted police.

Police arrested Simpson when he arrived at police headquarters to work a
night shift. They interviewed him for four hours and obtained a warrant to
search his home, where they found marijuana in Simpson's kitchen cupboard.
He signed his resignation papers the same night, ending a 12-year policing
career.