Culture - Ex-Mountie Addicted to Crack

[Perception Addict]

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.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1246/a09.html?89816

[bhorat]

80 a gram? holy fucking satan

[kniouk]

Hindsight could have told him to buy a kilo to start with, that would have cost him less

[Fight Club]

Why do we continue to be surprised when LE and other persons in responsible and respected positions fall prey to addiction? It is so easy to say "they should have known better" or that they are hypocrites and frauds.

Fact of the matter is that they are human, just like us.

FC