Pubdate: Sat, 19 Jan 2008
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2008 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Authors: Janet French and Mark Ferguson, The StarPhoenix
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

HEALTH BOARD MEMBER CHARGED

A member of the Saskatoon Regional Health Authority is accused of
selling drugs out of a City Park apartment after police seized more
than $200,000 worth of illegal substances Thursday night.

Eric Braun, 54, who's also president of the 25th Street Theatre
Centre, covered his face and wordlessly rushed past reporters outside
provincial court Friday after his first appearance on several drug
charges.

Health Minister Don McMorris said Braun should do the honourable thing
and resign from the board, which controls more than $700 million of
public health money annually.

"We're not going to convict him through my office until the legal
process works its way through," McMorris said.

Should Braun be convicted, "he'll no longer be serving on the board,
and will not be eligible to serve on the board in the future,"
McMorris said.

"We'll be very swift to move at that point."

Saskatoon police say the Saskatoon integrated drug unit searched an
apartment on the 500 block of Fifth Avenue North Thursday night.
Officers found more than three kilograms of marijuana, 65 grams of
cocaine and crack cocaine, 200 grams of hash and more than $23,000
cash.

Braun was arrested, as was a 30-year-old man who showed up at the
apartment with about a kilogram of marijuana in his possession.

Braun is charged with possession of more than $25,000, at least $5,000
of which is alleged to be a proceed of crime, possession of psilocybin
(magic mushrooms), possession of less than a gram of cannabis resin
and possession of cannabis resin, marijuana and cocaine for the
purposes of trafficking.

"I'm shell-shocked," said health region board vice-chair Carol
Teichrob, adding she has known Braun for years.

She referred all further questions to the government, as the health
minister is responsible for appointing health board members.

"You're innocent until you're proven guilty," Teichrob
added.

Saskatoon Northwest MLA Serge LeClerc, a recovered addict and
addictions counsellor, says the likely street value of the quantity of
drugs police seized is more than $200,000.

When a person applies to serve on a health board, there are processes
through which the government checks the applicant's background,
including any criminal history, McMorris said. For the most part, that
process works well, he said.

"It certainly causes us to pause and look at the criteria and the
checks and balances that are in place."

McMorris said he will rely on Teichrob and health region board chair
Darlene Eberle to keep him informed on whether the allegations against
Braun involve his role on the board.

A Saskatoon Health Region spokesperson referred all calls to the
Health Ministry Friday.

Braun has a long history of public service in Saskatoon.

In 1991, the government appointed him chair of the Mental Health
Advisory Council, where he served until 1997.

He was an elected member of the former Saskatoon District Health's
board from 1995 to 1999. When districts were amalgamated into regions
in 2002, then-NDP health minister John Nilson appointed him to the
board. He was reappointed in 2005.

He was also president of the Canadian Mental Health Association,
Saskatchewan division, from 2000 to 2002.

Saskatchewan Health Coalition president Kathy Storrie said Braun
served with that organization, which lobbies for the preservation and
improvement of medicare, in the 1980s.

"I can't believe it," she said.

"I always had a high opinion of him," Storrie added. "I am extremely
surprised."

Braun has also served on the boards of the Friendship Inn and
Saskatoon Housing Coalition, and worked with Crocus Co-op and PRIDE
Canada.

He received a Saskatchewan Centennial Medal in June 2005, according to
the government's website.

McMorris said the charges are "ironic" in light of Braun's long
service with health organizations.

"This type of person in this situation, if he is convicted, is not the
type of person who we will stand to have representing the constituent
regarding health care." 
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