The head of Montreal’s Drug Users & Abusers Anonymous, a charity dedicated to helping addicts recover from substance abuse, has been arrested for allegedly running a country wide drug ring. “The scope of this criminal enterprise is baffling,” says social reformer Mike Beaudoin. “Every Drug Users & Abusers Anonymous chapter was really just a front for dealing drugs to vulnerable people. Folks who were looking for help in recovering from their addiction would instead find themselves pressured into buying more drugs from the people they had turned to for guidance. This criminal organization would then use its links to legal departments across the country to have the addicts thrown into jail, often on trumped up charges, if they ever dared raise objections about what was going on."

Marcus Robertson, a 52 year old psychologist, started the disgraced substance abuse program shortly after graduating from McDowell University in 1995. “Marcus was a real charmer,” says one of his former patients who asked not to be named. “He used that charm to build up a massive criminal empire. He was a sociopath, an evil little man who preyed on the weak. He built a fortune off their backs, and the Canadian government helped him do it.”

Many social reformers share that sentiment. "The government was much more interested in imprisoning people who were weak and vulnerable than in examining any of their allegations against Marcus,” says Mike. “It’s not like no one hadn’t spoken up against him. There have been dozens of cases, and every single one of them was invariably covered up. The accusers were thrown in jail while Marcus was allowed to continue use preying on addicts, many of whom were referred to him and his organization by the Canadian government.”

Leia Manson is one victim who refuses to be silenced. “I was arrested for possessing crack, and part of my sentence involved attending Drug Users & Abusers Anonymous,” says Leia. “And instead of helping me try to overcome my addiction, they tried selling me more crack. When I refused to buy some, they told the courts I was in violation of my probation and sent me back to jail. They send you to jail if you buy crack, they send you to jail if you don’t buy crack. This country is crazy."