Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK

A 61-year-old woman will be jailed for two years after a traffic stop ended with her arrest for drug possession.

On March 8, 2021, Marcy Gordon-Filatoff was spotted in a vehicle that was missing a licence plate. Three years later, she was behind bars for drug dealing, according to a recently published BC Supreme Court decision.

She was already parked when a Kamloops RCMP officer approached her, initially only questioning her over the lack of a front licence plate.

The car was in her name and it had its rear plate, but the officer had her get the front plate from the trunk during the traffic stop, the court heard. While there, he spotted what looked to be a Taser in the back of the car.

Gordon-Filatoff confirmed it was a Taser and said it was for her protection, according to the decision.

She was arrested for possession of a weapon for a dangerous weapon, and the officer then searched both her car and her purse. He found $185 in cash and around 8.8 grams of a fentanyl and benzodiazepine mixture.

In her purse was a scale, two notebooks with score sheets, drug paraphernalia and 64 pills of various substances. There was also 4.2 grams of a fentanyl, carfentanil and benzodiazepine mixture in a glass vial.

Police seized a total 13 grams of controlled substances from Gordon-Filatoff, leading to a single charge of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Her lawyer Alexander Watt argued she should be given a conditional sentence, which often results in house arrest.

Watt said the 61-year-old, who can use up to 3.5 grams of fentanyl in a day, is among the "sickest of the sick." Rather than selling drugs for profit, she does so to sustain her own habit, which has persisted since she was 13 years old, he said.

He said societal problems associated with drug use would be solved "if we legalized narcotics and controlled them." He went on to say she should not be held in custody because she did not sell for profit, like those from criminal organizations would have.

Watt said a conditional sentence would give her the chance to access methadone in order to treat her addiction.

The Crown, however, argued that she should spend two years in jail, which Justice Brad Smith ultimately agreed with.

Gordon-Filatoff, who has a grade six education and left home at 13 to live in a motorcycle club's clubhouse, grew up around addiction.

Born in Alberta, her family moved to Cranbrook at a young age. Her parents were both alcoholics who separated when she was young. One of her three siblings was an addict who died "with a needle in his arm," Watt said.

The drugs she used when she moved into the clubhouse aren't stated in the decision, but she started using opioids later in life when she was prescribed oxycontin for an injury.

Before she was sentenced, Smith said Gordon-Filatoff has never been barred from pursuing opioid treatment before, like taking methadone. He said she would, however, have that opportunity while in custody.

Gordon-Filatoff had also admitted she would go back to selling drugs if she needed the money again, according to the pre-sentence report. She saw her drug dealing as something she did out of necessity, while looking at her drug use as an "individual freedom," disregarding any "collective harm," according to the decision.

Smith sentenced her to two years in prison on Feb. 23.

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