drugs found by uvic students like something out of 'a scarface movie,' police tell coroner's inquest
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fatal narcotics at the centre of a coroner’s inquest were found by university students in a glass vial, a container so unusual for street drugs that a police officer said it resembled a hollywood plot.
“it’s something you would see in a movie, like a scarface movie,” said saanich police const. ben scoones, a drug investigation specialist. “i have not seen drugs sold in a container like this. … it’s not something we typically see here in victoria.”
scoones testified tuesday at the inquest examining the fentanyl-poisoning death of university of victoria student sidney mcintyre-starko, 18.
when sidney and a second student collapsed jan. 23, 2024, witnesses immediately called 911 and campus security for help. but the first-year student did not receive the overdose-reversing drug naloxone for 13 minutes or cpr for 15 minutes, largely because the overdoses were mistaken for seizures.
a student has testified that she found a box of coolers on a downtown victoria street and brought it back to uvic, where her friends found the glass vial inside. the next day, three students snorted the drugs and all overdosed, but sidney’s reaction was the most extreme and she died.
scoones said it is possible, but in his opinion unlikely, that the drugs would be found this way in a box of alcohol on the street. but he noted all three students — the one who found the box, and the two who took the drugs — all provided the same version of events.
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“it’s such a shocking story,” he testified.
what he believes may have happened is that whoever bought these drugs likely purchased them in plastic bags or tin foil, and then put it in the glass vial for safe keeping or for a “cooler” look.
that scenario would involve “a very different subsection of user than your typical fentanyl street-entrenched user,” scoones said.
the vial with drugs that university of victoria students found in a box of coolers in downtown victoria. source: b.c. coroner’s service
merette, sandrine [phsa] b.c.
forensic toxicologist dr. aaron shapiro testified that sidney’s blood contained a tiny amount of marijuana consistent with “an infrequent user,” and a very high level of fentanyl — a dosage that would be fatal for most people, except those who are repeat drug users.
“someone who uses on a regular basis might experience few or no effects, whereas a person who is naive to the effects of the drug — has never been exposed to them — could end up dying from that same amount,” he told the jury.
the inquest has heard another person overdosed on the uvic campus several days before the incident involving these three students, which worried scoones. “that indicates a toxic supply for us.”
the police officer tried to get video footage of who left the box in downtown victoria, and pursued other investigative avenues, but could not determine the source of the drugs.
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in response to questions from uvic’s lawyer, scoones suggested some steps post-secondary campuses could take to keep students more safe: training campus security to recognize drug trafficking trends and transactions, anonymous tip lines, naloxone training, and education about the toxic supply.
changes have been made to campus security since sidney’s death. they include hiring a trainer to improve cpr for security guards; giving unique addresses to campus buildings to make them easier for first responders to find; and expanding radio communications with paramedics and firefighters, said jessica maclean, uvic’s director of campus security,
maclean was questioned about testimony last week from one of the security officers, nikolas murphy, who responded to sidney and her friends. when asked why naloxone wasn’t used immediately rather than waiting for confirmation of overdoses, murphy dismissed as “rhetoric” that naloxone will not cause harm to people who are not overdosing.
“i believe it’s still a relatively new medication. there’s still things to find out about it,” murphy testified about naloxone, which has been used to treat overdoses for five decades.
maclean told liu that she agrees naloxone is benign, and that security officers are now getting more training about the medication.
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sidney’s family’s lawyer, anthony vecchio, asked maclean about defending the actions of her security officers, who she has said were “highly trained” and were “commendable” that night. on tuesday, she said she is “absolutely devastated” by sidney’s death but continues to defend her staff’s actions.
“they did the best that they could. they did it according to how we had trained them,” she said.
“none of us ever want to have (a death) happen again. we are learning from it, but my team still showed up and they did incredible work.”
an external review of the incident, written by a former police chief, said there needs to be more “clarity” about who was in charge: security guards with first aid training who were at the scene or the call-taker on the phone, who made the decisions around whether the students were breathing, and when to administer cpr or naloxone.
maclean testified she believes 911 would have more experience with medical emergencies and it made sense for her officers to follow the call taker’s lead, but added she continues to improve security “processes” since sidney’s death.
“we are learning from this tragedy every day,” she said.
she testified that her staff did not meet to “debrief” after this incident, and that she did not speak to the student witnesses on scene that night because she feared it would be a possible conflict of interest to do so.
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the presiding coroner, larry marzinzik, explained that the inquest will determine facts related to sidney’s death, to make recommendations that may prevent similar deaths in the future, and to satisfy the community that the death is not being ignored. it does not determine blame for the death.
the inquest is scheduled for three weeks, with 33 witnesses scheduled to testify. twelve lawyers are representing various agencies including uvic, the ambulance service and the ministries of health and post-secondary education.
sidney’s death has led to better access to naloxone and other harm reduction measures on campuses, and promises to improve first aid policies. sidney’s parents hope the inquest will lead to changes in b.c.’s 911 system, to avoid a similar preventable death from happening in the future.
you can follow ongoing coverage of the inquest here:
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