Three years prison for drug dealer and addict

Press, 8 February 1985, Page 9

Three years prison for drug dealer and addict

A drug dealer and addict, whose profits from the sale of morphine were said by his counsel, Miss E. H. B. Thompson, to have been “ploughed back into his own bloodstream,” was jailed for three years when he appeared for sentence in the High Court yesterday. Eric John Risdon, aged 28, unemployed, received this sentence on 13 drug charges, to which he had been committed for sentence after pleading guilty to them in the District Court last month.

The charges were 11 of supplying or offering to supply morphine, one of supplying methadone, and one of supplying palfium — all class B-controlled drugs.

The offences occurred between November 30 and December 17. Mr Justice Holland said

the accused was a typical case of a person who had ruined his life by becoming addicted to drugs.

He also convicted and discharged the accused on a charge of driving while disqualified, and disqualified him from driving for six months. This offence occurred while the police had the accused’s property under surveillance for his suspected drug dealing. Mr B. M. Stanaway appeared for the Crown yesterday. The police summary at the time of the accused’s appearance in the District Court was that, when questioned on December 19, the accused admitted he had been dealing in homebake morphine. He had offered to supply telephone callers with home-made morphine at $BO or $B5 a packet.

He had 71 previous convictions, his most recent being on November 14 last year for possessing heroin. Miss Thompson yesterday sought a lenient prison sentence. She traversed the accused’s background and said his raging drug habit had become well entrenched in Australia, where he lived in 1976 and 1977 and had his first drug conviction.

Miss Thompson sought a shorter term of imprisonment so that the accused would not be completely destroyed for his eventual return into society. She said he had made attempts to deal with his drug habit, but previous treatment programmes had failed. Miss Thompson submitted that an intensive in-patient programme which one drug addiction institution provided was the only thing

that could help the accused. He could no longer help himself because of his raging addiction. A long prison sentence without that assistance would not help him. Miss Thompson said that the accused had been on a methadone programme in November, at the time he was supplying morphine. He obviously could not help himself on his present form of treatment. The methadone maintenance programme was not sufficient or suitable for him.

Miss Thompson said that the accused had admitted the offences at an early stage of the proceedings. He had supplied only persons who already were known drug users, and had not supplied “novice initiates.”

He had also been found to lack material possessions, unlike a major dealer in

drugs. His “dealing” amounted only to obtaining a regular cheap taste of the drug from each packet for himself, and selling the balance of each packet. AU his profits had been ploughed back into his bloodstream, Miss Thompson said. His Honour said it was unfortunate that the probation report, which recommended probation, might have raised the accused’s hopes. as this was a quite unrealistic assessment of the Court’s view of the seriousness of the accused’s offending. He said that he was satisfied the accused committed the latest offences solely to satisfy his own drug addiction, and was not a principal supplier. However, he had been shown to be in business in a substantial way.