Canadian Drug Dealer To Pay Drug Addict Over Bad High

January 10, 2008 8:03 a.m. EST

Ottawa, Canada (AHN) - A judge in western Canada's Saskatchewan province on Wednesday granted a Canadian woman's civil suit against her drug dealer for selling her addictive street narcotics that caused her hospitalization due to overdose.

Sandra Bergen, the drug addict, won by default after her drug dealer refused to identify the source of the narcotics.

Bergen said after the verdict, "I was frustrated with the criminal justice system because there was no real investigation (into his crimes), so I decided to try to hold him accountable through a civil lawsuit."

"I sued him for negligence ... for selling me (illegal) drugs and getting me hooked when I was vulnerable."

She said she was introduced to the drug when she was 13 years old by a kindergarten friend.

The woman adds, "My victory sets a legal precedence (in Canada), so people can now sue their drug dealers if they want to."

She spent 11 days in coma in May 2004 due to an overdose on crystal methamphetamine. While in hospital, Bergen was placed on respirator because she could not breathe on her own, and suffered lung failure, heart failure, kidney failure, and liver failure.

"It almost killed me," she said.

She told the court the drug dealer "knew the drug was highly addictive and was harmful to the health and well-being of anyone taking it, yet still sold it to her for the purpose of making money."

But drug dealer Clinton Davey countered the woman "voluntarily consumed illegal drugs, thus contributing to her own condition." "She assumed the risks," he said.

Since coming out of the coma on her 20th birthday, Bergen has rehabilitated herself and abandoned her seven-year drug binge, but she still suffers reduced heart function and other ailments.

She is seeking at least $50,000 in damages from Davey.