OFFICER WHO OVERDOSED GOT DRUGS FROM EVIDENCE LOCKER

The Vancouver Island Drug Awareness Officer Had Access To Cocaine And
Heroin, But Was Not A Long-Time User, RCMP Say

COURTENAY -- Vancouver Island drug awareness officer Barry Schneider
improperly gained access to heroin and cocaine from an RCMP exhibit
locker on at least two occasions -- including the day before his
overdose death, police revealed Friday. But despite his easy access
to drugs, the popular 23-year veteran of the RCMP was not a long-time
user of illegal narcotics, they said. "This tragic event underscores
how the effects of drugs are a potentially powerful force that can
lure and seduce even the strongest of characters under the right
circumstances," RCMP Corporal Grant Learned told a press conference
Friday.

Schneider, 43, died at home Nov. 29 from an overdose of heroin and
cocaine, known in the drug world as a speedball.

Having ruled out foul play as a cause, police classify Schneider's
tragic end as death by misadventure. Suicide is a remote, but
unlikely, possibility, they say.

While police and family friends refused to provide details of
Schneider's medical history, they say the "exemplary" police officer
who warned others of the dangers of drug use likely took drugs to
suppress pain associated with a number of medical conditions,
including one that was chronic. "There are no simple answers," said
family friend Greg Phelps. "The family, believe me, has even more
questions than you do. This was not something that was expected. This
was as much a shock to them as it is to everyone else."

Schneider, who left a wife and two daughters aged 12 and nine, is
believed to have suffered from a bad back, an injured ankle and a
stomach ailment, for which he had been on pain killers.

In wrapping up a criminal investigation into his death, police
admitted Schneider -- who coordinated Vancouver Island's drug
education programs and regularly warned community groups of the
hazards of drug use -- improperly removed heroin and cocaine from an
RCMP exhibit locker on Oct. 25 and Nov. 28, the day before he died.

Although his job entitled him to have access to drugs for teaching
purposes, Schneider did not fill out the appropriate paperwork
stating the purpose for removing the drugs.

After his death, police found small quantities of the two drugs
improperly stored in his police vehicle. Those drugs are being tested
to determine the purity of the cocaine and heroin involved.

But police raised even more questions Friday regarding Schneider's
death by refusing to reveal the amount of drugs he removed from the
police locker and the quantity of drugs that were later found in his
car.

"It wasn't an overly large quantity. It was not multiple ounces,"
Courtenay RCMP Inspector Dave Zack said of the amount taken from the
police locker. The criminal investigation into the drug officer's
death found no evidence that Schneider had sold any of the drugs.

Police consider his death an isolated incident that did not involve
other officers. And, they say, it does not point to a problem with
police procedures for handling drug exhibits.

"We hope and believe this is an isolated incident and is not
reflective on the members of the force," Zack told reporters. "We're
satisfied that our policies and procedures are sufficient."

While some have suggested police officers undergo mandatory drug
testing to prevent similar deaths in future, police said the testing
would not have saved Schneider.

"Would drug testing have saved this officer's life? Probably not,"
said Staff Sergeant Chuck Doucette, who is in charge of B.C.'s drug
awareness program. "There's no direct connection here. We're not
going to change policy based on an isolated incident."

Doucette said Schneider's death will be used as an example to teach
others about the dangers of drugs.

"You do not have to be addicted to drugs in order for drugs to kill
you," Doucette said Friday. "No matter what your occupation or what
your background is, you are human and you can fall into the same
problems as anybody."

Schneider was a long-time drug enforcement officer who had worked in
various parts of the province before settling in his hometown where
he became the drug education coordinator and the local expert on drug
use and abuse. Among other duties, he coordinated the popular Drug
Abuse Resistance Education program (DARE), which is used in schools
to educate students on the evils of drug use.

On Nov. 29, his nine-year-old daughter Rachel found him collapsed on
the kitchen floor. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful.

The coroner's office initially believed Schneider died of a heart
attack but toxicology results revealed lethal amounts of cocaine and
heroin in his blood.

Police had been investigating the death since those results were
confirmed in early January.

With Friday's conclusion to the criminal investigation, the case now
goes to coroner Glenn Partridge, who is continuing his investigation.
Partridge does not rule out an inquiry into the death.

Although injection of the drugs has been ruled out, Partridge said he
does not know whether Schneider ate, snorted or smoked the deadly
drug mixture. The pathologist found no evidence from Schneider's
tissue samples of long-term drug use.

In addition, investigators found no drug paraphernalia in either
Schneider's home or his vehicle.

For an officer who built a career fighting drugs and warning others
of their dangers, Schneider's death has left his family shocked and
his fellow officers baffled.

No one, said Learned, may ever know what led to Schneider's overdose
death. "At the end of the day, we may never know exactly what was in
Barry's mind at the time."