Pubdate: Wed, 15 Oct 2014
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Page: A3
Copyright: 2014 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Katie DeRosa, with files from The Canadian Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

BAD BATCH OF DRUGS PUTS 2 IN HOSPITAL; MAN HELD

A 19-year-old man has been arrested after selling a bad batch of MDMA
- - the powdered form of ecstasy - to two women who ended up in
hospital, one on the verge of death.

Saanich police were called Saturday about 3 a.m. by a neighbour in the
5000 block of Cordova Bay Road, near Haliburton Road, who said two
women in their early 20s appeared to be under the influence of drugs,
said Saanich police spokesman Sgt. Steve Eassie. One woman was
partially clothed and in a state of delirium.

Both women were taken to Victoria General Hospital by B.C. Ambulance
paramedics.

While one woman's condition improved, the other woman worsened and, at
one point, doctors feared she might die, Eassie said.

Doctors gave her an ice bath to reduce her body temperature. She
remains in hospital but her condition has improved and she is no
longer in intensive care. It's unknown whether she will suffer any
permanent physical or neurological damage, Eassie said.

Police are in touch with the parents of both women.

Investigators were able to interview her friend to determine where
they bought the MDMA, which was ingested in powdered form.

That led police to a 19-year-old man, who was arrested about 4 p.m.
Saturday. Officers searched his home in the Wilkinson Valley area and
seized 90 grams of a powdered substance.

Eassie said it's common for MDMA to be mixed with other toxic
substances, but it's not known whether anything toxic was in the drugs
the women took.

The drugs were sold in small dime bags, he said. The women did not
consume any other drugs or alcohol that evening that might have
contributed to their overdose.

"The female that suffered the more serious reaction had consumed
considerably less than the other female," Eassie said.

"So it is an example of where different people's physiology will react
differently to drugs. It's literally like playing a game of Russian
roulette."

The man is facing charges of drug possession for the purpose of
trafficking and could also face charges of criminal negligence causing
bodily harm.

Eassie said it's unclear whether he mixed the batch himself or bought
it from someone else.

"I don't have any information on how this man came into possession of
the drugs or if he had employed any other tactics to perhaps make his
supply bigger," Eassie said.

Anyone who purchased MDMA in the last week should exercise extreme
caution, he said.

Eassie said police believe there is no connection between the bad
batch of MDMA in Greater Victoria and toxic heroin that led to
overdoses in Vancouver over the weekend.

Police in Vancouver issued a warning to drug users on Sunday, after a
dozen people overdosed on potent heroin. Toxic heroin has resulted in
29 overdoses in two days at Vancouver's supervised injection site.

Gavin Wilson, a spokesman for Vancouver Coastal Health, said 13 people
overdosed at Insite on Monday, and there were 16 overdoses on Sunday.

This year, contaminated heroin has caused 10 to 12 overdoses a week at
the facility where users inject their own drugs under the watchful eye
of a nurse, Wilson said.

Police believe the death of one woman was related to the
drug.

Coroner Barb McLintock said the woman in her 20s died in a hostel in
the Downtown Eastside but that toxicology tests have yet to confirm
the cause of death.  
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MAP posted-by: Richard