Addictions support worker devastated as son on life support after OD from laced party drug

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/04/2023 (378 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg father and addictions support worker is struggling to understand how he went from enjoying a Jets game with his son to considering taking him off life-support in a matter of days after laced party drugs caused six overdoses Saturday in The Pas.

Harlan Fourre, 31, was one of the six people who overdosed after taking an illegal drug, possibly ecstasy, that RCMP say was laced with an opioid at a Fischer Avenue establishment in the city, which is located 625 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

Five of the victims were hospitalized, treated and released. The sixth is Joseph Fourre’s son.

“I’m waiting. Prognosis from the ICU doctors is not good, given the fact that the brain was oxygen-starved for that period of time,” Fourre said from Brandon Regional Health Centre Monday morning. “So now we’re looking at a secondary result of the overdose as brain damage, and that’s what the MRI will tell us today.”

Naloxone was used to revive the three other men Harlan was found with (the other two incidents happened separately at the same location) but Joseph said his son went into cardiac arrest and it took paramedics 45 minutes to re-establish his heartbeat. He was intubated at St. Anthony’s General Hospital in The Pas before being transported to Brandon.

Joseph said his son, who lives in Winnipeg, had travelled to The Pas for the weekend to help his sister, who lives in the area. Drugs were not a regular part of Harlan’s life.

“He made a choice. But as anybody knows, MDMA (ecstasy) is a party drug and it’s used by a lot of youth when they go to raves and parties and stuff like that,” he said. “He’s not a drug addict. He very rarely does stuff like this. And unfortunately, he didn’t get what he paid for.”

RCMP warned Sunday that the drug might contain fentanyl. RCMP said Monday that an officer who was at Thompson General Hospital for an unrelated matter was approached late Sunday afternoon by a nurse who turned over a small box. The box contained seven vials of a purple “unknown crystal-like powder substance.”

Each vial contained about one gram of an opioid drug. “A sample of the suspected drug has been forwarded for further analysis,” RCMP said.

RCMP believe the drugs in the box might be the same substance that caused the six overdoses.

Before the incident, Harlan worked as a roofer who was looking forward to paying off a new car. After his mother died a few years ago, he took on the responsibility for caring for his autistic brother.

He is an avid Jets fan who watched the first two games of their first-round National Hockey League playoff series with his dad, who said Harlan kindly consoled him after a loss.

“We’re hoping that he’ll be there with me again, watching Jets games, and we’ll be celebrating a Stanley Cup win,” he said. “He always said, ‘This is going to be their year, Dad.’”

Joseph knows the impact of laced drugs all too well. He works as an addictions program support worker in Winnipeg, and has been in recovery from drug addiction for four years. He could have never imagined the possibility of losing his son to the tainted drug market in Manitoba, which he said has spiralled out of control.

“Our children are dying, our children are getting hurt by greed, from fentanyl sellers who are mixing this drug with other drugs and selling it out there,” he said. “And we need to do something as a community, we need to press our governments to get harder penalties for drug dealers.”

He said community members and hospital staff told him there were more unreported overdoses from laced drugs the same night.

“(The Pas is) not that big of a town. If you have that many people (overdosing) from one particular drug, you’ve got to be able to determine where it’s coming from pretty easily,” he said. “That’s where our law enforcement needs to step up and create a task force to really make an impact on the drug trade in Manitoba.”

But the RCMP’s investigation isn’t front of mind for Joseph right now. He’s waiting to hear results from the MRI that could determine his son’s future.

“Harlan was an incredible man who had a beautiful future ahead of him,” he said.

“And as a result of one bad choice, it’s all changed.”

The Pas RCMP are asking anyone with information to call 204-627-6204, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, or post a secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca