DEALERS PREY ON ADDICTS

Dealers looking to sell drugs to recovering addicts outside methadone
programs are a Canada-wide plague, says the director of Red Deer's opiate
recovery clinic. A Red Deer judge recently sentenced a Calgary man -
41-year-old Albert Ahmed Nasser - to three years in jail after he sold
drugs to a undercover cop outside a methadone clinic.

"He's not an exception, and we put a stop to it as soon as we see it," said
Bill Leslie, director of the Central Alberta Methadone Clinic.

"This is a countrywide problem. We're all aware of it. We're dealing with a
very high-risk population."

Leslie said he often runs off dealers looking for an easy sale off
recovering addicts.

In many cases, recovering addicts at the program - especially those
dedicated to kicking their habit - will scare off dealers on their own,
Leslie added.

"They'll put the run on these lowlifes."

Nasser had come to the Red Deer clinic for treatment, and was arrested Aug.
21 after he tried to cut a drug deal with an undercover cop.

Mounties were told someone was trying to sell morphine outside the clinic.
The undercover officer worked a deal to buy 21 tablets from Nasser.

The Crown prosecutor handling Nasser's trial said the most aggravating
factor in the case was the fact the man "preyed on recovering addicts."

Jailed since his arrest and held in remand, the judge gave Nasser credit
for 16 months time served.

Justice Douglas Sirrs heard Nasser's arrest happened near the downtown
clinic after RCMP were tipped off to his activities.

Nasser served two and a half years for selling cocaine in 1996. He also had
six previous drug possession convictions.