Beaumont teen dies of drug overdose

'We all took ecstasy,' dead girl's friend says

Karen Kleiss
The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - Sixteen-year-old Ashley Clairmont loved the grunge band
Nirvana and spoke a secret language with her three cats, Felix, Tiger and Moe.

She broke curfew once in a while, but kept up with her chores and
helped her dad fill the front garden with purple flowers, her favourite colour.

She was a former gymnast and wisp of a girl. Her dad always told her
she should work with animals or children.

Ashley Clairmont died on July 13, two days after her friend says she
took ecstasy, a street drug that creates a feeling of euphoria in users.

"She was just beginning to blossom," her devastated father, Dan
Clairmont, said from the family home in Beaumont.

"We used to call ourselves the Three Stooges," he said, referring to
the triad the widowed father made with his two teenagers. "She had a
great sense of humour and could really make us laugh."

RCMP can't confirm how the Grade 11 student died because toxicology
and autopsy reports won't be ready for at least a month.

But Ashley's friend, Brandi Miller, who was with her the night she
died, said the girls had taken ecstasy and smoked marijuana before
the teen got sick.

"Ecstasy just came into our town that week," said Miller, who had
known Ashley since Grade 5.

"We all took it ... and Ashley started jumping on the couch. We
smoked some pot and she started sweating a lot."

Ashley drank water, ate salt, threw up and took two cold showers.

"She was lying on the bed, and she said she felt really sleepy and
that her brain hurt. I just remember she looked dozy."

Miller left the house and minutes later heard sirens. By 8:40 p.m
Ashley was in an air ambulance on her the way to the University of
Alberta Hospital, where she fell into a coma until she died Wednesday night.

Her death has sent shock waves through the town of 8,300, just south
of Edmonton.

"It is a small community and everybody knows everybody," RCMP officer
Cpl. Daryl Williston said.

He said the drug problem in Beaumont is no different than any other
town. Drugs are readily available.

Beaumont Mayor Camille Berube said residents are asking a lot of
questions about what the town and the police are doing to help. "The
town has been proactive. There are programs in the schools and
through the RCMP.

"This is very sad and very tragic, and the community has gathered
together to support the family," he said.

Konstantine Zakzanis, a University of Toronto neuropsychologist who
studies ecstasy use among young adults, said "most users don't
replenish their body's fluid ... so it is the dehydration that causes
death in most cases.

"Sometimes the body isn't getting enough oxygen to the brain, so you
can basically have a stroke."

All that really matters to Ashley's dad is that she is gone. "My life
is my kids. I am still in shock."