BC Just Gave a Fentanyl Dealer One of the Toughest Sentences on Record

The first major sentencing in BC related to fentanyl since the onset of the opioid crisis happened Monday, with a dealer being given 14 years in prison. Though the Crown was seeking an unprecedented 18 years for defendant Walter James McCormick, who is described as having "personal significant responsibility for hundreds of fentanyl-detected deaths in British Columbia," the judge's decision granted less than the requested sentence, CBC reports.

McCormick's trial serves as one of the first examples of the government's move to figure out sentencing procedures around fentanyl trafficking. Fentanyl-related deaths have surged in British Columbia in recent years, where a record-breaking 914 people died of drug overdoses in 2016.

"I recognize that a sentence above any established range will not lead to an end to the fentanyl epidemic," Judge Bonnie Craig wrote in her decision.

Though the decision and those that follow will inevitably be hailed by some as a win in fighting the opioid crisis, the reality is that some of those participating in the fentanyl trade are suffering from addiction themselves.

Last year, an accused fentanyl dealer was charged with manslaughter in the neighbouring province of Alberta, setting a precedent for how those selling the opioid are treated in the legal system. The accused dealer, Jordan Yarmey, was also suffering from opioid addiction. At the time, addiction and public health specialist Dr. Hakique Virani told VICE, "I think bereaved families can blame us [doctors] all for the crisis that has claimed the lives of their loved ones—not just drug dealers."

McCormick was arrested as part of Project Tainted, which was a police operation created in response to a spike in overdoses in October 2014 that resulted in ten arrests and the seizure of tens of thousands of bootleg fentanyl pills. McCormick's lawyer, Lawrence Myers, argued that an increased sentence wasn't the answer to the fentanyl crisis: "The suggestion is that giving people severe sentences is going to solve the problem. That simply isn't the case."

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However, the judge said that the court must "exercise its responsibility to denounce the unlawful conduct and attempt to deter others from engaging in offending of this nature."

"When determining the appropriate sentence for Mr. McCormick I must take into account… that an increasing number of people are dying due to the illegal sale of fentanyl," Craig stated. "McCormick did not create the problem with opioid addiction in the community. He is just one of the players in a far more complicated problem."

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