Pubdate: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 Source: Kelowna Capital News (CN BC) Copyright: 2002, West Partners Publishing Ltd. Contact: http://www.kelownacapnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294 Author: Marshall Jones Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) KELOWNA MAN WANTS DRUG-FREE JAIL A Kelowna man convicted of a robbery to get money for drugs has been returned to a federal prison--the place where he got hooked in the first place. Duane Grams, 33, contested charges that he robbed the Shell service station on Harvey Avenue twice in two days, Sept. 23 and 25, 2001. It took six days of court time to try him and just a few hours for an 11-member jury to convict him. Justice Robert Metzger sentenced him to 28 months in a federal prison on top of time he was already serving. Grams' lawyer, Joe Gordon, described how his client succumbed to cocaine in 1995, paralleling his criminal record. Between 1996 and 1998, he was convicted of numerous offences including several counts of theft, assault and finally robbery. In 1998 he was sentenced to five years for robbery and finally quit taking cocaine. When he was passed up for early parole, Gordon said, Grams became depressed and turned to heroin for the first time, getting access to it while in Matsqui prison. He worked to beat it through methadone treatment but once he was released to a halfway house last September, he relapsed. Within a week, he went through a student loan, stole a car, a credit card and held up the Shell station twice, once with a knife, the jury found. When he was sentenced, Justice Metzger requested that Corrections Canada place Grams in a drug-free cell. The only prison in B.C. to offer such a service is at Mission Institution. In April 2000, the federal government announced new measures to get drugs out of prisons including using drug dogs and ion scanners. It also designated five institutions to include drug-free units. Offenders who volunteer to live in these units sign a contract agreeing to abstain from drugs and are transferred if they test positive for, or are found in possession of drugs or alcohol. Research has shown that over 70 per cent of offenders have substance abuse problems at the time of their admission. Offenders who are addicted to drugs and alcohol are also more likely to be under their influence when they commit their crime. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D