COPS FOCUS ON BAD DRUGS IN OVERDOSE DEATHS

It doesn't smell right and it's not cracking and fizzing like cocaine
should.

That's how outreach workers in Kamloops are describing a bad batch of
crack that has hit the streets in recent days - and which may be
behind two overdose deaths.

"It's something real bad," Bob Hughes, the executive director of the
AIDS Society of Kamloops, told KTW.

"Basically, people falling over on their head dead from smoking this
stuff. That's not right."

He said people not familiar with cocaine wouldn't know to stay away
from the drug.

It now appears the tainted drugs have claimed the lives of two people
within two days.

At about 6 p.m. on Sunday, a man picking up bottles came across the
body of 24-year-old woman. She was found in a stairwell behind a
building in the 500-block of Tranquille Road in North Kamloops.

Following an autopsy on Tuesday (March 16), investigators ruled out
foul play in the death of the woman.

Less than 48 hours later, Mounties were called to the Village Hotel at
377 Tranquille Rd. to probe a report of a sudden death.

There, police found the body of a 33-year-old man in one of the
hotel's rooms.

Two witnesses who had been with the deceased throughout the night said
the man had been drinking homemade wine, taking pills and smoking
crack and cocaine.

The names of the dead have not been released.

But the two incidents have police taking the unusual steps to warn the
public about the possibility of tainted drugs on the streets.

Hughes said rumblings of the spoiled crack came through his office on
Monday.

While he said he's no expert, Hughes surmised the drugs could contain
a horse tranquilizer, noting it's rare to see overdoses from cocaine.

Since word has spread quickly in the community, Hughes is hopeful no
one else will fall victim to the bad crack.

Meanwhile, police continue to investigate and note they have some
leads on who might be selling the deadly drugs.

RCMP Const. Pat Nagy said police don't believe the drugs are related
to the deaths of two teens in the Lower Mainland earlier this month,
or to bad ecstasy that killed two people in Chase last year.

"We're just very concerned there is a bad batch of drugs out there,"
she said.