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Fatal overdose tied to ecstasy

Three overdoses likely charged to ecstasy

The Whistler RCMP are warning members of the public to avoid the drug known as ecstasy after two men were hospitalized on Thursday, Nov. 12. One of the two men, 20-year-old Kevin Van Huyse, did not recover and died after being rushed to hospital.

In their investigation Whistler RCMP have heard that at least one other person has overdosed in the past week, also related to ecstasy.

Staff Sergeant Steve LeClair said they likely won't know what caused the death until the RCMP receive the toxicology report. It may be the overdoses are the result of victims ingesting too much of the drug in powder form or the drug itself may have been tainted in some way.

LeClair says that's always the risk in taking MDMA, or Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, the active ingredient in ecstasy.

"These drugs were made by criminals using a combination of methamphetamine and toxic chemicals, anytime you take them you take your life in your hands," he said. "It's made of chemicals that you would never think of ingesting on their own, but because it's pressed into a coloured pill or whatever people think this is okay.

"There's no quality control, no dosage, all the person making the drug cares about is getting your money."

LeClair said there have been overdoses related to ecstasy in Whistler before last week as well in communities around the province, and recommended that parents become educated about the drug so they can share that information with their children.

Youth Outreach workers Davin Moore and Tara Souch have contacted people close to Van Huysen to offer their assistance in grief counseling and are working with peer educators - locally trained volunteers that share information with their peer groups - to get the message out that a tainted drug may be in circulation, as well as the general risk of taking drugs like ecstasy.

So far there has been no request for their services, but Moore and Souch are doing an investigation of their own.

"We actually had someone in our peer educator group that was close to the situation and they've been sharing information with us," said Moore. "It's good to get the information out to young adults that there could be a bad batch out there that is putting people in the hospital.

"From what I understand it wasn't a matter of taking too much, it was a single dose and the nurses believe it was probably a bad batch. It's definitely scary stuff, and the scariest thing is that it's unknown and anything could be in there... there's a stat going around that sometimes ecstasy in this province is half (crystal) meth."

Whistler RCMP responded to a call about a drug overdose at about 11 a.m. on Thursday Nov. 12. Friends found the male unconscious after he ingested a powdered version of the drug MDMA, better known as ecstasy.

Whistler Fire Rescue Services and Emergency Health Services tried to revive the man using CPR but he was pronounced dead later at the Whistler Health Care Centre.

A second male at the same residence was also hospitalized after an apparent overdose of the same drug but he's expected to make a full recovery.

MDMA, the police state, is part stimulant and part hallucinogenic drug and can cause extreme health effects such as high blood pressure, body temperature and "dangerously" high heart rates.

Van Huysen moved to Whistler from Ontario after high school to spend his summers skateboarding and winters snowboarding. He was working in a local restaurant and bar.

 

ATVs stolen from operator

A tour company operating in the Callaghan Valley reported the theft of two ATVs from their headquarters on the morning of Nov. 11. A surveillance video at the site showed a man with a toque and jacket walk into the yard at around 3:30 a.m. and push the ATVs back towards the road where he presumably had a vehicle and trailer waiting. He was not identified in the tape.

 

Thieves make off with two safes

A Benchlands Hotel is missing two safes after two or more persons broke into an office on the evening of Nov. 12 and the morning of Nov. 13 and carried away two safes that contained, among other things, rolls of coins. It is estimated that $2,500 was taken.

Because of the weight of the safes and change it is believed that at least two people must have been responsible.

 

Canada-wide hunt still underway for Squamish rapist

A man accused of entering the vehicle of a Kamloops woman who was sleeping in her car at Brennan Park Recreation Centre in Squamish, sexually assaulting her and forcing her to drive him to Burnaby, where he also allegedly robbed her and assaulted her a second time, has been identified as Shaun Richard Funk, 35 of no fixed address. RCMP are searching for Funk.

The incident took place overnight on Aug. 28 and ended at 4 a.m. on Aug. 29 when Funk fled her vehicle on foot.

Funk is also suspected in an attack in Ladysmith on Sept. 26 where he allegedly broke into the home of a woman in her 50s and assaulted her. The police believe he also attempted to break into another residence that night but fled before committing a crime.

Funk is originally from Manitoba and has resided in Alberta in the past. He is known to stay at campgrounds, eat at bars and restaurants before running out on his tabs. He is also believed to have a crack cocaine habit.

Funk is described as a Caucasian male with brown hair and eyes, between 5'8" and 5'10" tall and roughly 150 pounds. He has tribal art tattoos on his upper right arm and a mole on the right side of his chin.