Death of Port Coquitlam teenager was caused by cocaine and MDMA; coroner’s report concludes hydromorphone likely not a factor
Port Coquitlam teenager Kamilah Sword died in August 2022 from a cardiac arrhythmia following cocaine and MDMA use, according to the coroner’s report. She was 14.
Sword first reported using methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ecstasy or MDMA, in December 2020.
Sword was hospitalized four times in 2021, including for issues related to substance use toxicity.
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“Kamilah was not prescribed any substance use treatment medications during or subsequent to these hospitalizations,” according to the report written by B.C. coroner Dean Campbell.
The toxicology analysis showed flualprazolam – an illicit benzodiazepine, as well as hydromorphone, which is prescribed for pain as well as for B.C.’s safer supply program.
“Hydromorphone was detected at a level within a typical therapeutic range,” according to the report. “From where and when any of the substances were obtained by Kamilah is unknown.”
While cannabis and hydromorphone were detected, both “are considered unlikely to have played a role” in Sword’s death, the coroner’s report concluded.
Sword’s death was classified as accidental.
Responding to the Dispatch, Kamilah’s father Greg Sword wrote that he has spoken with doctors who deal in addiction and have concerns with the coroner’s report. Sword added that he is seeking a second opinion on the report.
The toxicology analysis found that MDMA was at a concentration below the range typically associated with recreational use, while flualprazolam was at a level generally associated with recreational use.
Safer supply controversy
Following Kamilah’s death, Greg Sword discussed the trials of finding care and treatment for his daughter.
A National Post article stated that Kamilah Sword died after becoming addicted to hydromorphone, a drug her friends said they often bought from drug dealers diverting the drug from B.C. safer supply program.
The National Post article was written before the coroner’s report was released. “That said, five addiction experts I spoke with for this story said that, if it is indeed true that Kamilah had this cocktail of drugs in her system, then it is highly likely that the hydromorphone killed her,” wrote National Post columnist Adam Zivo.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for Sword’s death.
“A 14-year-old is dead because Trudeau floods the streets with ‘dillies’ – a drug stronger than heroin. Trudeau gives dillies to addicts who sell them to children for a dollar,” Poilievre posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Safe supply study
A recent survey involving 5,882 British Columbians with addiction issues found that safer supply resulted in dramatically fewer deaths.
Published in the British Medical Journal, the survey found that a drug user’s chances of staying alive increased based on the number of days per week that prescription opioids were dispensed.
“Pharmaceutical alternatives to the illegal drug supply are promising interventions to reduce mortality in people with opioid use disorder,” the study stated.
Safer supply did not result in a significant reduction a drug user needing an acute healthcare visit for overdose or other causes, according to the study.
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