Pubdate: Fri, 11 Jan 2008
Source: Prince Albert Daily Herald (CN SN)
Copyright: 2008 Prince Albert Daily Herald
Contact:  http://www.paherald.sk.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1918
Bookmark: http://drugnews.org/people/Sandy+Bergen

DRUG DEALERS BEWARE

We would like to offer our hearty congratulations to Sandy Bergen and 
her family. Bergen, as reported in Wednesday's Herald, has launched a 
civil lawsuit seeking damages from Clinton Davey.

According to Bergen's statement of claim, Davey is the man 
responsible for dealing drugs that sent Bergen into a coma in 2005.

The Biggar resident is bang on when she says the suit "sends some 
sort of message."

We concur.

Further, we wonder what might happen if more people had the same initiative?

For many reasons, not the least of which is our nation's increasingly 
ineffective revolving-door justice system, our society is being 
shattered by a whole host of toxins.

Heroin, cocaine, crystal meth and more lie at the heart of a complex 
social challenge that - in the absence of a justice system with clout 
- - law enforcement officers alone cannot solve. Some slow movement 
toward a better social support mechanism will likely make some 
inroads on solving addictions, but the real core of the problem lies 
with the individuals making and delivering drugs.

The users are merely the victims, albeit due to unwise actions.

By pressing this civil suit, the Bergen family may trigger a 
landslide of similar suits. Civil law can do what criminal law 
cannot, in many cases - and in this particular case, maybe the 
alleged dealer can be held accountable in a way that has far more 
meaning than the typical home sentence, probation or token incarceration.

The Bergens could well obtain a settlement that would hold Davey 
accountable for a sum of money it might take half a lifetime to repay.

If more dealers were faced with that threat, perhaps a few might get 
the message and consider a more honest line of work.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom