Source: Vancouver Sun (Canada) Contact: http://www.vancouversun.com/ Pubdate: Friday 25 September 1998 Author: Lindsay Kines OVERDOSE DEATH TARGET OF THIRD INVESTIGATION The federal justice department is reviewing the overdose death of a government chemist who analysed drugs seized by police. Officials will try to determine what impact the death will have on drug prosecutions and whether the circumstances of the 1997 death should have been disclosed to defence lawyers. The Mounties don't share the justice department's concerns. "No drug prosecutions or investigations were put at risk as a result of the actions of this analyst," the RCMP said on Thursday. Vancouver lawyer Ken Young, who is defending a number of clients up on drug charges, said the chemist's death raises serious questions about where he obtained his drugs. "He had to get it somewhere, let's put it that way. Now, the question is, where did he get it?" Any case handled by the Burnaby lab -- whether Henry John Sadkowski was involved or not -- could be called into question, the lawyer said. As in the O. J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles, defence lawyers would be permitted to question the integrity of techniques used by lab analysts, Young said. He is reviewing his files, checking for cases in which Sadkowski was the analyst. Health Canada and the RCMP conducted separate investigations last year into the Burnaby lab where the chemist had worked for more than 20 years. They say the probes found no proof he had stolen narcotics from the lab or that any drug cases had been put at risk. Federal justice officials, however, say they only learned of the chemist's drug overdose when The Delta Optimist broke the story last week. Reporter Maureen Gulyas uncovered the bizarre tale while researching a series on drug use in the suburbs. "Because it's such a recent revelation, I'm simply starting to gather some information at this point to find out what steps we need to take in light of this information," Bob Prior of the federal prosecution service said Thursday. According to a coroner's report, Sadkowski, 51, died in his bed of a drug overdose in Delta on May 30, 1997. Tests showed Sadkowski had snorted a lethal mixture of cocaine and heroin -- more commonly known as a "speedball." Coroner Pat Harrison stated in his report that the cause of Sadkowski's death came as a "total shock to his family and co-workers." But tissue samples revealed the chemist "had been using cocaine for some time without the knowledge of those close to him." Once Health Canada learned the cause of death, it launched an internal review and asked Burnaby RCMP to conduct its own investigation. Greg Smith, western regional director of the health protection branch, said he wanted to find out what safeguards existed to prevent an employee from stealing drugs for personal use, and whether such a theft had occurred in this case. The lab -- one of six in Canada -- employs 11 to 12 analysts who primarily test drugs seized by police in B.C., Alberta and the Yukon. - --- Checked-by: Rich O'Grady