FORMER METH ADDICT SUES DEALER

It's About Taking Responsibility, She Says

The first time Sandy Bergen tried crystal meth, as a "vulnerable"
18-year-old, she became addicted.

Three years later, Bergen is taking responsibility for her drug use by
suing her former drug dealer.

"I've taken responsibility, and now we're turning it on him to take
responsibility," she said. "The justice system works very slowly, and
this way I can have a voice in this. I can make him answer for his
actions."

The resident of Biggar, Saskatchewan, and her family are involved in a
lawsuit that will determine precisely who is responsible for Bergen's
overdose last spring.

Bergen's lawyer, Warren Smith of Busse Law firm, said that the civil
case will substantiate that Sandy's dealer was negligent, and sold the
drugs with intent to inflict mental and physical harm.

He compared the lawsuit to suing a toy company for negligence in
manufacturing, or tobacco companies for intent to harm.

In addition to recompensing the harms done to Bergen, Smith said that
the case will also recoup social costs, such as the cost to the
province of Saskatchewan for Bergen's hospitalization.

"There's a reason why drugs are illegal: they're illegal because they
cause damage, damage that society already bears," said Smith.

Stuart Busse, of the same law firm, said that the lawsuit is based on
the dealer's actions being careless and for personal economic gain.

Busse noted that Bergen is also suing the grandmother of the drug
dealer, on the basis that she facilitated his actions.

"This isn't just where she went and bought drugs off the street --
we're a small town here, they went to school together," said Busse.
"He caught her in a vulnerable point . . . it isn't just a voluntary
purchase by her."

"They have all sorts of ways to manipulate you," said Bergen. The most
effective: addiction.

"As an addict, I had a diminished capacity to make the right choice. I
was a very sick person."

"Crystal meth makes your heart as hard as a rock," she
said.

Before Bergen overdosed, she had been sober for two months, and had
not taken meth for eight. In May 2004, she was due to testify in
court, in regards to a sexual assault that she had been subjected to a
year earlier. At this time, Bergen was again approached by the dealer
who had first introduced her to the drug, and she finally gave in.

"I knew it wouldn't make anything better, but I decided to do it
anyway," she said. But almost immediately, she became violently ill.

It felt like someone had "jabbed a pencil through my brain," she said,
and she began to vomit blood and turn blue.

"It looked like I was dying -- I actually was, but they didn't know it
at the time," she said. She took the meth at 9 a.m., but didn't make
it to the hospital until 3 p.m.. Even then, it was hours before anyone
realized that she was overdosing on crystal meth -- she was too
ashamed to tell the doctor, in case her father should find out.

Finally, she collapsed. Bergen was in a coma for eleven days. Her body
puffed up to three times its normal size, a lung collapsed, and 17
bags of IVs were put directly into her arteries, as her veins had all
collapsed.

"This drug just drags you down. I'm not supposed to be alive," she
said.

The first time Bergen tried the drug, it was provided free of charge
by Biggar's only dealer; she was high for five days, ending up in
Saskatoon. When she started to come down, and as she watched a mother
high on methamphetamine while breastfeeding her child, she was
horrified by how fast and how quickly she had sunk. Still, she said,
she wanted more and very quickly became dependent on the drug.

These are the experiences she shares to demonstrate the need for her
to actively speak out and stop "enabling" the drug trade in her town.

Although the family stands to lose money on the lawsuit -- judgments
are based on the resources of the parties involved -- the family's
main concern is getting their message out.

Bergen noted that the lawsuit may make it "uneconomical" for the
defendant to continue to sell drugs in the town.

Bergen's parents are also involved in the lawsuit, suing both the drug
dealer and his grandmother for the adverse reaction they had to their
daughter's overdose.

Sandy's father, Stan Bergen, said that his daughter was taken
advantage of -- and the dealer needs to be held accountable.

"We have to hold these people accountable for what they're doing, not
just to my daughter, but to the community," he said.

"It's not just about money: it's about making these people
responsible."

He called crystal meth "a blight on society," noting that drugs are a
huge problem in the northern and western parts of the country, on
reserves in particular.

"If you haven't had anybody have a problem with it in your community,
just wait."

While Health Canada does not have the data to reinforce or refute
this, new measures to combat the production of crystal methamphetamine
indicate that the government hopes to be more active in fighting the
drug. Territorial governments, as well as the provincial governments
of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, are making some cold medications, often
used to prepare meth, available only over the counter.

Due to the nature of the drug -- crystal meth is very easy to prepare
and uses household items like bleach and cold syrup -- it is very
difficult to determine how widely it is used. Carolyn Sexauer of
Health Canada said that there is no indication that use is rising
beyond the one per cent it is currently estimated at, but noted that
the statistics available do not account for use among those who live
on reserves or are homeless.

Georgina Bergen, Sandy's mother, noted that meth is a problem in all
small towns -- but in Biggar, things are improving.

"The drugs in Biggar have dried up since we [launched] the lawsuit.
It's gotten a lot less safe to deal them here," she said.

Bergen said that Sandy never had very high self-esteem -- "so I could
see where she could fall victim to outside influences."

"I've seen her go from hell in a handbasket to somebody I can be proud
of. I hate to say an overdose is a good thing, but in our case, it was.