Another Metro Vancouver teenager has died after reportedly taking ecstasy, but the BC Coroners Service has yet to confirm whether the drug factored in his death.
Authorities believe the 16-year-old Langley resident had also ingested pharmaceutical drugs when he fell to the floor early Sunday morning. Ambulance paramedics transported the boy to hospital, but he could not be revived.
A toxicology test is expected to determine if ecstasy played a role in his death and if so, whether the drug had levels of paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), a toxic hallucinogen that's been linked to five deaths in B.C. over the last six months.
The drug has also been linked to five recent deaths in Calgary, where police say PMMA is a new ingredient in local ecstasy tablets.
PMMA is considerably more toxic than MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, and can cause seizures and elevate body temperatures to dangerous levels. Its hazards are amplified because it is slow-acting, and users may be tempted to pop more pills than they normally would.
Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe says the latest death serves to emphasize authorities' assertion that ecstasy use is inherently risky, with no means of determining what chemicals any given dose contains.
Five other deaths have been linked to the drug in the last six months. Twenty-year-old Tyler Miller died on Nov. 27, followed by 17-year-old Cheryl McCormack on Dec. 20. An unnamed Burnaby resident died after ingesting the drug on New Year's Eve, and a 22-year-old Vancouver resident died after taking it at a party on Jan. 7.
A 14-year-old boy was one of 16 people who died last year after taking ecstasy, but authorities have not revealed the date or circumstances of his death.
