JUDGE GETS TOUGH WITH DIAL-A-DOPE DEALER

A provincial court judge has sent a dial-a-dope crack dealer to jail
for six months, saying traffickers need to get the message there will
be consequences for their actions.

Judge Carol Baird Ellan sent the get-tough message to Gordon Adam
Thompson, 32, of Burnaby who was nabbed in November 2009 after West
Vancouver police set up a sting operation.

Thompson was caught selling cocaine out of a vehicle after West
Vancouver officers called a phone number twice in one week to arrange
the drug deals. Thompson sold the officers $40 of drugs each time.

When he was arrested following the second deal, police seized three
grams of crack divided into 11 packages and seven grams of powder
cocaine divided into 14 packages from his car.

In court, Thompson's defence lawyer John Stowe asked for a sentence to
be served in the community, saying Thompson has a steady work history
and is not an addict, but sold the drugs when he was unemployed and
had fallen on hard times.

But the judge wasn't convinced, commenting that using a vehicle to
sell crack "makes that substance readily available to people who might
not otherwise travel to the kinds of places that they could otherwise
acquire it, such as the Downtown Eastside."

She added a stronger message needs to be sent to drug
dealers.

"The issue to my mind at this point in this community is the prolific
nature of these crimes which we see on almost a daily basis in these
courts," said Baird Ellan.

"The sentences being imposed are not achieving deterrence and people
who are disposed to engage in these kinds of schemes to supplement
their incomes are apparently not receiving the message that these are
serious crimes that prey on the buyers and endanger the safety of the
community.

"It seems that offenders are under the impression that they can
conduct this kind of activity until they get caught and then expect a
sentence that is not particularly disruptive to their lifestyle.

"In my view a more consistent message is required."