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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
There have been two deaths caused by the use of the drug ecstasy in the NWT since 2010, police confirmed yesterday.

RCMP Const. Wes Heron would not speak to the details of the fatalities, except to say they were ecstasy-related.

He cited an ongoing investigation in one case and the young age of the victim in the other as reasons not to disclose further information.

This acknowledgment followed a Jan. 27 RCMP press release warning about the possibility of ecstasy containing paramethoxymethamphetamine (PMMA), another stimulant drug, hitting the streets of Yellowknife.

The ecstasy with PMMA has been responsible for at least 18 deaths in British Columbia and at least six deaths in Alberta in the last six months, according to the Mounties.

"All I'll be able to say is since 2010 that we have had two deaths here in the North that are related to ecstasy," said Heron. "From what I understand is that the deaths and B.C. and Alberta were possibly related to the same method of production."

Heron said no public warning was made at the time of the deaths because police didn't know the deaths were related to ecstasy at the time. He said the Jan. 27 warning was issued in light of the rash of deaths down south.

This new form of ecstasy is considered more dangerous because of its slow onset, Heron said.

"So somebody may well say to themselves, 'Well, this isn't working' or 'maybe I got a weak dose,' so what they do is take a second one, or maybe a third," he said. "Meanwhile the first dose is starting to take effect, and so as the effects that the user is looking for start coming on the other ones are starting to come on too. So it compounds it."

Heron emphasized that all forms of ecstasy are dangerous and can cause pronounced hyperthermia (elevated body temperature), increased heart-rate, agitation, confusion, convulsions and cerebral hemorrhaging.

Nora Mackenzie, whose 13-year-old daughter Savannah died in 2010, told a Yellowknife radio station that she believes her daughter's death was related to ecstasy.

The NWT coroner's office won't release information pertaining to Savannah Mackenzie's case because the investigation is ongoing, according to a representative.

As a member of the Yellowknife Committee for the Prevention of Youth Substance Abuse, Johnnie Bowden said he is increasingly concerned about ecstasy.

"Just the fact that (the RCMP) are warning about a form of ecstasy on the market that can be lethal, I mean, we always hear about the power of crack-cocaine with the respect to immediate addiction ... and yet here is a date-rape drug that everybody knew had harmful effects and here we have two cases where people have died (in the NWT)," said Bowden. "We've lost so many kids to suicide, to alcohol and drug abuse, and I've been in the unfortunate position where I've had to go through those tragedies with the parents of kids who have died as a result of this."

He said he would like to see more involvement from community members to educate people about the harmful effects of drugs, and pointed the Hay River "Not Us" initiative as a good example.

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