EX-MOUNTIE ADDICTED TO CRACK: COURT DOCUMENTS

Freedom of the press and upholding the openness of the Canadian court
system has trumped the privacy issues of a cocaine-addicted former
undercover RCMP officer.

An Edmonton judge today vacated a publication ban issued in an
ongoing drug trafficking case and granted Sun Media access to
exhibits in the proceeding.

Included in the court documents was information confirming former
RCMP Const. Steve Gillespie was addicted to crack cocaine while
working as an undercover officer for the Integrated Response to
Organized Crime unit.

The documents also reveal Gillespie, who is no longer a Mountie, used
methamphetamine when crack cocaine was not available and said he
liked the effects of it because "it was cheaper, he was less paranoid
and could work and be around people."

Gillespie revealed he spent $80,000 of his own money to support his
drug habit, which equates to 1,000 grams of cocaine at $80 per gram,
say the documents.

According to interviews done in an internal RCMP investigation,
Gillespie told a fellow officer he was "hooked and addicted
immediately" after trying crack for the first time and said his
desire stemmed from stress at work.

Gillespie, who had been promoted to corporal just before admitting
his addiction in 2005, also said his habit was "like a switch" and if
he woke up and needed to use, "it would be out of his control."

He admitted being a "binge user" and buying the cocaine from
dial-a-dopers, but denied using informants, targets or other contacts
he met through his work to obtain drugs.

Another officer told an internal inquiry Gillespie was starting to
get "delusions of grandeur" and "go wild and stuff." When asked to
elaborate, the officer said it stemmed from the undercover cops
"working" bikers.

"They got in the role and the way they acted, the only difference
between them and the bikers, was that they had a badge," said the
officer, who cannot be identified.

Gillespie tried to prevent Sun Media from accessing the exhibits, but
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Doreen Sulyma ruled in favor of Sun
Media, citing the importance of the freedom of the press and the
openness of the courts.

Sun Media lawyer Barry Zalmanowitz argued the public had a right to
know that a person sworn to uphold the law had a problem with illegal drugs.

"It's clearly a breach of duty and a breach of trust for a member of
a police force to be abusing cocaine," he said.

Gillespie's cocaine addiction was first revealed when an accused drug
dealer became upset the Crown wanted to use evidence against him that
comes from a wiretap operation approved on the word of the drug
addicted Mountie.