Death weighs in dealer's sentencing.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

Richard Hans Norland was "directly involved" in the suicide of a Springfield woman who was addicted to the drug that he provided her, a judge declared before sentencing the drug dealer Friday.

A jury last week convicted the 67-year-old man on two counts each of possession and distribution of gamma hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, an illegal depressant commonly referred to as a "date rape" drug because of its anesthetic properties.

"Linda Brown would not have put a gun to her head unless she was pretty damned distraught," Lane County Circuit Judge Jack Billings told Norland. "Do you know what she had? An addiction to a drug - a drug that you provided to her. I consider you directly involved in her death."

In accord with state sentencing guidelines, Billings sent Norland to jail for 90 days and fined him $1,000.

The case began when Brown's brother, Mike Garrison, told police about her addiction to GHB. Among her effects was a calendar on which she recorded the numerous doses she took daily.

Although Brown made no secret of her GHB use to relatives and friends, Garrison said Brown hid the severity of her addiction. Brown, 47, who worked steadily as a dental assistant for 27 years, was into health food and fitness, Garrison said. GHB often is abused by bodybuilders because it releases a growth hormone.

After Brown's death, her family learned she had recently returned home two days early from a vacation in Hawaii because she'd run out of GHB and was going through withdrawal.

On the day she died, Brown's mail contained a letter of acceptance for an intensive inpatient treatment program in Los Angeles tailored to GHB addicts, Garrison said.

"When she started doing the research on it, I think that's when she really realized she was in serious trouble and wanted to do something about it," Garrison said.

After her death, Garrison said he researched the drug, its long-term effects and the life-threatening symptoms of with- drawal.

"I know she tried and tried to stop," Garrison said. "I know in my heart she got to the point she couldn't live with it. It overwhelmed her."

Although Garrison considers Norland's sentence light, he said he hopes the two years he must serve on probation will force him to stop selling the drug to others.

Defense lawyer James Leuenberger of Lake Oswego argued, among several legal issues, that the state's drug laws are unconstitutional. Leuenberger asked Billings to spare Norland a jail term and fine.

In court on Friday, Norland said he accepts the jury's verdict.

Billings told Norland he saw little difference between this case and that of any other pusher of illegal, addictive drugs.