The young North Vancouver parents found dead in their Lower Lonsdale home last week had taken drugs laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl, the B.C. Coroners Service has confirmed.
Hardy and Amelia Leighton, 31 and 30, had apparently been snorting drugs when the synthetic opioid, which is more powerful than morphine, caused them to fall asleep and not wake up.
Their two-year-old son Magnus was visiting with extended family members at the time, according to police.
In the last two weeks, RCMP detachments in Surrey, North Vancouver and Coquitlam have all issued warnings about fentanyl, following a spike in overdoses or the lab results showing the substance turning up in other street drugs. Dealers are adding the drug to their product, meaning many users don’t know what they are taking. Fentanyl is especially dangerous for people who are not regular opioid users.
North Vancouver Cpl. Richard De Jong said he was not aware of any other apparent local overdoses and could not say where the fentanyl came from.
People taking street drugs should be aware of the warning signs associated with an unsafe dose, said coroner Barb McLintock. Once taken, fentanyl causes the user to fall asleep and begin snoring heavily as the drug is a respiratory depressant.
“That’s a real danger sign and call 9-1-1,” McLinktock said “Basically you breath slower and slower until you stop.”
Over the past three years the percentage of drug overdose deaths in which fentanyl is detected has risen to more than 25 per cent, according to the coroner. In more than 80 per cent of those cases, the cause of death was a mixed drug overdose, with fentanyl being just one of the components.
The Leightons’ family has set up the Hardy and Amelia Leighton Memorial Fund, a YouCaring.com crowdfunding page to help assist Magnus. As of Thursday, friends and strangers alike had donated almost $20,000.
