A drug squad investigator said it was “shocking” to learn how 18-year-old University of Victoria student Sidney McIntyre-Starko came to possess and then ingest the toxic drugs that killed her.
Saanich Police Department Const. Ben Scoones made the comment while testifying on the seventh day of the B.C. Coroners Service inquest into the January 2024 death of McIntyre-Starko.
Scoones was tasked with investigating potential drug trafficking on the UVic campus a few days after the first-year student died of a fatal fentanyl overdose in a UVic student dorm.
“It’s such a shocking story that somebody found drugs and then decided to use these drugs as a group without knowing what these drugs were or where they came from,” he told the coroner’s court jury.
In testimony last week, a female UVic student known only as “Student 1” told the inquest that she found a box of unopened wine coolers on a downtown Victoria street after a dance class. Student 1 said she took the wine coolers back to campus on the bus before handing the box over to three friends.
The three friends — McIntyre-Starko, “Student 2” and “Student 3” — found a vial of powdery substance in the bottom of the box, according to testimony, and made a decision to snort the substance in a dorm bathroom the following evening. Names of the students are protected by a publication ban.
“All three of the witnesses provided the same information and provided the same story [and] there’s nothing to contradict that story,” said Scoones.
Drugs packaged in glass vial unusual, investigator says
In his years investigating low-to-mid level drug dealing in the Victoria area, Scoones said seeing drugs packaged in a glass vial instead of a small plastic bag or tin foil is unusual.
“That is pretty unique,” he said. “It’s something you would see in a movie, like a Scarface movie, where you have people using drugs out of small cocaine vials. But it’s not something we typically see in Victoria.”
Scoones said it also wasn’t typical for drugs to be left unattended on the street.
He testified that he went to the Johnson Street location where Student 1 said she found the wine coolers to try and collect security or CCTV footage, but none was available. There was also no security video of the public smoke pit on the UVic campus where Student 1 testified she handed over the box of wine coolers to the others, he said.
Student 2 and Student 3 also overdosed after snorting the drugs, but only Starko-McIntrye died.
The coroner’s inquest was called after her parents raised concerns about the response of UVic campus security and the length of time it took for fentanyl-reversing Narcan and lifesaving CPR to be administered to their daughter.
Forensic toxicologist Dr. Aaron Shapiro testified that individuals who snort the same drugs can experience vastly different effects depending on things like the granularity of the powder, how well the drug is mixed with cutting agents and how deeply it is inhaled into the nasal passages and lungs.
Despite the initial test of the drugs indicating it was a mixture of cocaine and fentanyl, the official toxicology report found no trace of cocaine in McIntyre-Starko’s system. The level of fentanyl detected, he said, was a potentially fatal concentration.
Shapiro, the associate scientific director of toxicology at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, said that the earlier Narcan is given to someone who is overdosing, the greater the chance of survival.
The inquest is scheduled to run into next week.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, here’s where to look for help:
