A drug addict from western Newfoundland has blamed his most recent run in with the law on getting kicked off Newfoundland and Labrador's methadone program.
Jamie Saunders, 36 and an addict for 20 years, is facing federal jail time for robbing a convenience store in St. John's, but he told CBC Monday his current trouble started when he moved to the capital city.
"I came down from Corner Brook to get on the methadone program. I got approved; my extended stay in a hotel was paid for. My taxis were paid for, back and forth," he said.
Through six weeks, Saunders said he was doing really well. He said he had a full-time job as a roofer, an apartment, a steady relationship, clothes and a credit card.
"I done everything, I felt like a human. I felt I was a part of society," he said.
Saunders said his world started crumbling when he was told there was no more room left for him at his hotel.
"A couple days later I said, 'You know what? It's about $2,000 for another hotel. Why don't I just go get my own place because I just started a new relationship — you know, I might live here in St. John's. I never lived down here before; I don't know any drug dealers at all. It's a new beginning for me,'" he said.
Saunders said everything changed when he started renting his own apartment.
"Because I got my own place, my worker said you're going to lose your taxis to your appointments," he said.
Saunders was given a bus pass instead and he said he took a Friday off work to give himself time to make one of his appointments.
But when Saunders boarded his bus, the driver told him the bus didn't go from St. John's to his appointment in Paradise.
"So I get back off the bus, and I got 45 minutes to get to this appointment. I called the doctor's office to let them know that I can't get out there. I got no money, and his secretary she said to me, 'If you can't get here, he's going to cut you off,'" he said.
Saunders did not make it to the appointment and he did not get his methadone. Because he didn't make the appointment, he got kicked off the program.
"Sunday and Monday, Tuesday — I was starting to feel sick. I couldn't get to work, I couldn't get out of bed. My job was gone, everything was falling away from me because I don't have this opiate in my system," he said.
Finally, after a few days of withdrawal, Saunders said he cracked.
"My parents sent me money, I had $300 or $400 on me. I went downtown, I asked around —sure enough, within two hours I was at a dealers house and I was banging a needle in my arm," he said.
After a few days of heavy use, Saunders was out of cash and desperate for more drugs. So he robbed a store — a decision he said he regrets, but had no control over.
"I didn't want to go in there and do that. I sat out by that door for an hour. And I knew these women, I knew the people in the store. I lived at the hotel for seven weeks, that's the only store I went to," he said. "The lady at the cash register knew me by name."
Saunders said he knew he was going to be caught, and he wanted to be caught. He is hoping to get the help he needs in federal prison.
But he said he would have been fine if he was allowed to remain on the methadone program.
"Get ride of the addicts, you get rid of the criminals. Don't try to get rid of the criminal, because you can't get rid of the criminal. The criminal is only there for 30 seconds, just to get that money, to feed the addiction," he said.
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