Sonya Harvey: 'When you're an addict, it can bring you to some very bad places.' (CBC)

A drug-addicted St. John's woman whose troubles with narcotics and the law have been well documented should be sent to a federal prison so she can receive treatment, her lawyer has told a judge.

Sonya Harvey, whose problems with the powerful painkiller OxyContin helped bring public attention to a then-thriving street trade in the drug four years ago, has pleaded guilty to an attempted armed robbery at a downtown convenience store in September.

At a sentencing hearing in provincial court Tuesday, Harvey's lawyer, Peter Kearsey, and Crown prosecutor Phil LeFeuvre both recommended Harvey be given at least two years in prison.

Harvey, who was treated out of province for her OxyContin addiction, recently became addicted to cocaine and turned to prostitution to finance her habit.

"This was a relapse," Harvey told Judge Gloria Harding. "When you're an addict, it can bring you to some very bad places."

Harvey was once described by a judge as the "poster child" for addiction to OxyContin, which had become so popular, so fast, in St. John's that a commission was created to curb its use.

Kearsey, who recommended a sentence of 25 months, told Harding that Harvey has an eight-month-old son and still has much to live for.

LeFeuvre described Harvey's case as tragic, but said a sentence of between two and three years is warranted.

A federal term would mean that Harvey, as a federal inmate, would have access to drug treatment programs that can't be obtained in provincial jails.

Harding is scheduled to sentence Harvey on Oct. 28.