A Ucluelet man has been sentenced to one day in jail for possession of about $1,000 worth of carfentanil, fentanyl, heroine and methamphetamine.
David Cameron, 37, was sentenced in Ucluelet Provincial Court on Aug. 8. Both Crown and defence counsel made a joint submission for one day jail time being served.
Judge Alexander Wolf questioned the joint submission.
“I know it’s a simple possession. You are suggesting one day being served. It seems really low to me, but it’s a joint submission, I’ll probably go along with it, but you need to help me understand how a person with $1,000 worth of carfentanil and a record for drugs for the purpose of trafficking, whether there were some problems with the case or… Help me get there,” said Judge Wolf.
Crown attorney Ian McFadgen said Cameron was arrested and held in custody for two days for the Sept. 22, 2020 possession of substance charge.
“He has respectively seen the inside of a jail cell,” said McFadgen. He continued to tell Judge Wolf that an impartial expert submitted a report that convinced Crown counsel that the drugs weren’t possessed for the purpose of trafficking.
“That’s fine. I’ll go along with that. But with his record, he’s so lucky he’s not going to jail and he’s so lucky he’s not dead,” said Wolf.
Cameron has two children under the age of two and comes from a Ucluelet fishing family, according to defence lawyer Cheyne Hudson.
“(Cameron) is a hard-working man. He suffered many work related type injuries resulting in pain. Pain management relapsing into a fentanyl addiction. Both (Cameron) and (his partner) have suffered from a fentanyl addiction,” said Hudson, noting that Cameron is currently on an opioid management program.
“He knows that the drugs he bought for his own use, it’s only by good luck and a good fortune that he didn’t have a fatal overdose,” said Cheyne.
During the sentencing, Wolf shared that he knows many people who have overdosed on fentanyl.
“It’s a good thing that you are not dead. It seems like a fairly high quantity to me. And I just don’t know what you were thinking back in 2016. I don’t know how you got a fine either back in 2016. There must have been something very unusual about that. I hope the naloxone helps. I hope your partner helps. Because we have too many kids in the world that don’t have parents, that don’t make it to high school or become addicts themselves, that die from overdoses. It’s your job now to make sure that those children are raised, that they finish school, that they feel loved, and that they stay away from these sorts of drugs,” said Wolf.
He went on to ask Cameron’s partner how things were doing at home.
“We’re exhausted, but we are good. I don’t think either of us have really slept in the past month. For sure it’s challenging, but the fact that Dave made the changes he has in a town with absolutely no resources to help him has been amazing for us. The change in him in the past year is phenomenal. There is still a lot to work on for both of us, I’m in recovery myself as well, but everything has been moving in the right direction,” she said.
Wolf advised them to stay away from the drugs and to avoid the people they used to hang out with.
“It’s a good thing that you are not dead. And it’s also very good that this expert said that maybe it was simple possession. That doesn’t mean that it was simple possession. I know that’s what you are pleading guilty to, but when you have trials there is always that possibility that a judge could find that is was more than simple possession. That it was on the side of a larger amount,” said Wolf.
With two convictions for drugs on his record, Wolf said Cameron will likely never be able to travel to the U.S.
“You will never be able to take your kids to Disneyland. But other than being here today, this is a new beginning. A new start. Don’t let your family down. Don’t let yourself down,” said Judge Wolf.
RELATED: Ucluelet police cite fentanyl as the likely cause of two fatal overdoses
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