BARRIE

A former doctor wept as he hugged his elderly father after a judge sentenced him to two years in prison for forging fentanyl prescriptions and trafficking the deadly opioid.

As a police officer slapped handcuffs on Darryl Gebien, his family members blew him kisses while some broke down in tears.

The former Barrie emergency room doctor, who has lost his licence, initially faced 145 charges but pleaded guilty to one “global” count of trafficking and one count of forging 445 fentanyl prescriptions.

Gebien, 46, told the court he became addicted to the powerful drug because of a back injury.

“I became a slave to drugs,” he said during his sentencing hearing.

Court heard how he used prescription pads that belonged to other emergency room doctors and forged their names to obtain his fix.

He approached hospital staff to fill the prescriptions and they were subsequently fired. Gebien also approached other drug addicts on the streets to go to a pharmacy to pick up his prescriptions and he would share the drugs with them as payment.

A suspicious pharmacist called a doctor whose name was forged and Gebien’s gig was up.

Justice Joe Wilson gave Gebien credit for pleading guilty — in December 2016 — two years after he was arrested in November 2014.

While out on bail, Gebien took part in several rehab programs, gave media interviews and lectured health-care providers and people at narcotics anonymous meetings.

“Dr. Gebien is in a solid state of recovery,” said the judge. “In my view, Dr. Gebien has exceptional prospects and deserves credit.”

The two-year sentence does not sit well with others who have served hefty prison time for the trafficking of fentanyl. The Crown had asked for eight years in prison.

“The justice system is a snob,” complained one ex-convict, who recently did four years in prison for dealing around 24 fentanyl patches. Like Gebien, his dealings were to help feed his own addiction.

“Two years? I was told if didn’t plead guilty right away, I would get six years instead of four,” said the convict, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his new job. “It’s clear to me that the high class of society get treated better.”

Gebien could be released after serving as little as one-sixth of his sentence for good behaviour.