Calgary pharmacist guilty of trafficking painkillers

A Calgary pharmacist sold thousands of painkiller pills, first to pay off a gambling debt and then after he was threatened by the buyer.

Bassam(Sam)Soufan, 36, was sentenced to an 18-month conditional sentence Wednesday to be served in the community for trafficking 16,000 OxyContin pills between February and October 2007.

OxyContin, a brand name of the drug oxycodone, is a time-release painkiller that has a similar effect to heroin, but is much cheaper.

Court heard Soufan met and befriended Ahman Hammoud at a casino in January 2007, when he incurred significant losses.

Hammoud lent Soufan $2,000 and was told he could repay the loan by providing him with OxyContin from the Scenic Acres IDA Pharmacy, where Soufan worked as manager.

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Soufan initially provided 100 pills to Hammoud and was told he must keep doing it. Hammoud, a lawyer who has since been disbarred for unrelated activities and has left Canada, then supplied the drug to bikers, court heard.

Crown prosecutor Shelley Tkatch told court Soufan, who moved to Canada from Lebanon in 2004, was selling the pills to Hammoud for $8 each, repaying the pharmacy its$4.44 cost and pocketing the difference.

Tkatch told the judge although “the accused was very fearful,” he “gained several thousand dollars” in profits, which he used to support his girlfriend, his family overseas and his own living expenses.

Soufan was charged after the drugstore owner discovered a large discrepancy between the amount of OxyContin ordered and dispensed to customers through prescriptions.

Defence lawyer Brian Beresch said “but for the first sale, this comes down to a case of duress.”

“He felt like he was in great harm if he didn’t supply narcotics to this person,” Beresch added.

Provincial court Judge Bruce Millar agreed to the community service sentence because Soufan co-operated with police and the Alberta College of Pharmacists and the crime was initially committed because he was threatened.

Soufan, who has been suspended by the college until Oct. 31, must provide a letter outlining the conditions of his sentence to any new employer.

dslade@theherald.canwest.com