Pubdate: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: The Vancouver Sun 1999 Contact: 200 Granville Street, Ste.#1, Vancouver BC V6C 3N3 Fax: (604) 605-2323 Website: http://www.vancouversun.com/ Author: Glenn Bohn ACCUSED SAYS HE TAUGHT 'RESPONSIBLE' DRUG USE A former RCMP constable who gave marijuana to two teenaged boys in North Vancouver told a judge Friday he was only trying to teach them how to use the drug responsibly. Both boys were 14 at the time, and Scott Randall Simpson told the mothers who were trying to raise the boys alone that he would be a "big brother" to them. According to federal justice department lawyer John Cliffe, the ex-Mountie smoked joints about once a week with the boys. When he moved from Richmond to a North Vancouver basement suite, he asked one of the boys to buy marijuana for him because he didn't have alocal dealer, Cliffe said. Simpson, who spoke in his own defence, said the boy was smoking before, during and after school, and was "on a constant quest for more." "I was just trying to teach him [that] if you're going to do it, be responsible," said Simpson, explaining that he asked the boy to use marijuana at night, after he had finished his homework. Judge W. J. Diebolt, who is to impose sentence on Dec. 24, is being asked by the prosecution for a six-month sentence on top of the one month in jail already being served, on the grounds that Simpson breached the trust given to him as a police officer. Simpson pleaded guilty to marijuana trafficking - a charge that includes the act of giving marijuana to someone else. Both the prosecution and defence agree that no money was exchanged when Simpson shared the pot. The RCMP began investigating last January, after a suspicious North Vancouver school principal contacted police. Police arrested Simpson when he arrived at police headquarters to work a night shift. They interviewed him for four hours and obtained a warrant to search his home, where they found marijuana in Simpson's kitchen cupboard. He signed his resignation papers the same night, ending a 12-year policing career. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D