TAINTED ECSTASY SUSPECTED IN FATAL OVERDOSES

Mounties in the Okanagan community of Chase are warning the public
about a potentially lethal batch of tainted ecstacy.

Two men are dead and two women are in hospital after taking what is
believed to be tainted E while partying earlier this week.

"It is possible the stuff is tainted and harmful and potentially
lethal," Cpl. Mike Draper said yesterday.

Police and paramedics responded to a home on the Little Shuswap Lake
Reserve at about 11:30 p.m. Monday and discovered a 19-year-old man,
who had apparently overdosed after smoking marijuana and taking
ecstacy. He died in hospital Wednesday.

About three hours later, paramedics were unable to revive a
51-year-old man on the Adams Lake Reserve.

The man's girlfriend also became ill and was taken to hospital with a
suspected drug overdose. She reported the man was drinking alcohol,
injecting drugs and smoking hashish.

Another woman -- a 20-year-old -- overdosed on Wednesday and was taken
to hospital.

All four of the victims are believed to have been using ecstacy prior
to overdosing.