DEATH LEAVES SCHOOL PALS IN SHOCK

AJAX -- E-mails started circulating among classmates of a 15-year-old
Ajax girl hours after she collapsed in a parking lot last week from an
Ecstasy overdose.

"I got an e-mail on myspace.com saying please give out blessings for
(the girl) who's in hospital for overdosing," said Chris Gibson, 16, a
student in the same high school class as the teen, who went into a
coma shortly after popping pills that local teens call the "dirty"
drug.

"A little while later we found out she died. We're shocked."

'Really Hot'

Local teens are reeling from the news that one of their own passed
away while experimenting with the recreational drug, which several
admit is high on the local teenage list of summer to-do's.

"A lot of people around here do drugs," said a student at the same
high school where the teen would have entered Grade 11 in the fall.

"Especially this summer. Ecstasy is really hot."

The girl, whose name has not been released by police, died in hospital
on July 19 after falling into a coma and suffering organ failure
brought on by a tab of the street drug.

'Never Touching It'

Almost immediately after news of the incident got out, rumours about
what happened started taking shape.

"Everyone knows. It's circulating big time, and everyone's feeling
bad," the fellow female student said.

Classmates are taking a critical look at their own drug use.

"A couple of people are, like, they're never touching it. And then
there are a couple of people who just don't care," said the teen.
"There's gonna be bad pills out there. But this is an overdose, this
is different.