WOMAN'S DEATH LINKED TO ECSTASY

RED DEER (CP) - RCMP are probing the death of an 18-year-old woman
after she took two ecstasy pills Saturday night.

The woman and three friends took the popular party drug at the
Euphoria dance club Saturday night, police said Tuesday.

The woman, whose name has not been released, became
ill.

"She wasn't doing well with it. They said she seemed to be having a
bad trip," said Cpl. Bucky Buchanan.

The woman went home at about 6 a.m. and fell asleep. Her boyfriend and
another friend said they checked on her every half hour.

"The third or fourth time they went to check, she wasn't breathing.
They called paramedics at 10:15 a.m.," said Buchanan.

The woman was a known drug user who had previously suffered stomach
problems from taking ecstasy, said Buchanan.

An autopsy is being performed to determine the cause of
death.

Ecstasy has often been found to contain potentially lethal cocktails
of other drugs. The pills are commonly laced with other drugs such as
LSD and even strychnine or rat poison.

As of September 2002, 22 people had died in Canada as a result of
taking ecstasy.

The pills taken by the woman were purchased at the club, according to
her friends, RCMP said.