Jason Botchford of the Athletic..dead at age 48

[Red_Baron]

Sounds way too similar to a friend of mine. He held a very high position at a post secondary institute and had gotten to that place in life at a very young age. He had an accidental fentanyl overdose when he was traveling in Victoria, B.C.

He left behind a wife and 2 young children. He wasn't some junkie or some drain on resources or society, he genunely made the world a better place and was actively involved with several charities.

Users come from all walks of life but the stigma surrounding users keeps a lot of it in the dark.
Some day after decriminalization becomes the norm in the world, we will all wonder why governments took a hard stance against drugs at any point in time on it.

[Geeoff]

IMO whatever dealer sold this to him should be charged with murder

[Red_Baron]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

IMO whatever dealer sold this to him should be charged with murder

Question is, how far back in the supply chain did it get laced?

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Red_Baron

Question is, how far back in the supply chain did it get laced?

Shouldn't matter. Get these dealers off the street.

Originally Posted by dino7c

I'm glad the family was brave enough to share this information. Could help save someone's life

I think it is important that people realize that Fentanyl is not just a DTES problem in Vancouver. I knew about Botch last year, I knew a 21 year old son of an acquaintance who OD'd on fentanyl laced cocaine and pass right around the same time. And these are just two that I know of or have a passing connection too. Most people assume that the Fentanyl ODs in this town are related to the DTES and we need to realize that's not the case. If you are a recreational drug user in this town, you are risking your life right now.

[Red_Baron]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Shouldn't matter. Get these dealers off the street.

Better yet, get these drugs off the street and offer a safer alternative.

[afc wimbledon]

for some context I worked with a kid came out of Juvi' 10 years ago, he was 14 at the time a minor car thief, mum was a mess, I can remember her screaming at me 'he never got into any trouble until you ******* in probation got involved!!' kid had no dad, a hundred 'uncles' mum was on the needle, he ended up a minor level dealer as he was smart but never had a chance to direct those brains towards something positive, he ended up dying of an overdose 4 blocks from my house, he wasnt using, he was trying to mix his drug supply down to a reasonable level for sale, adding Fentanyl to baby powder or the like in order to create a safe level of strength, the 'dust' he breathed in as he was mixing the drug killed him because of the strength of the drugs that come by mail mostly from China or India is so strong it is impossible to mix them safely, a few grains clumped together is enough to kill and the dealers are just stirring the product with a spoon or shaking it in a bag in order to turn a few grams of pure Fentanyl into a pound of heroin

[afc wimbledon]

I have huge respect for the family though, this would be the last thing most families would want to publicize, incredibly brave and community minded to be open about this

[kermitology]

Sounds exactly like what happened to the brother of a friend of mine. He’s never done cocaine before, his older brother had been over earlier in the day to help set up a crib for his new baby. Had some friends over, one guy asked if anyone wanted to do a bump. He must have figured why not, what’s the worst that could happen. Both of them died pretty much instantly.

[blender]

Checking in.
Lost a cousin, 2 friends of friends and a few other acquaintances over the last several years.

[Mathgod]

Horrifying news. Rest in Peace. All the best to his family and friends.

2020 feels like it has been going on for a decade now...

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

Horrifying news. Rest in Peace. All the best to his family and friends.

2020 feels like it has been going on for a decade now...

Botchford passed in the spring of 2019, this was a bump as his family released a statement revealing his cause of death

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

They're not interchangeable, but substance abuse is significantly more serious than recreational substance use, and there's no indications from what little we know from his family or his work that indicates an issue with substance abuse.

Plenty of people know fentanyl is dangerous, but unfortunately, few people know if their drugs are laced with fentanyl. Many people use hard drugs, NHL players included, I just don't think there's anything that indicates it should have been a concern or that Jason required access to the same level of care as the NHL's substance abuse program.

That's my point, which is entirely relevant to yours. You do not need to abuse a substance, have an addiction, or be in a state that requires intervention to overdose, especially when the drug is laced with fentanyl.

I hope the outcome of this is not "he had an issue/demons, and that's why this happened" but the recognition that it can happen to any drug user, so being aware of your source is important, and we should do more to ensure safe access.

I don’t disagree with any of that. It just is really far from anything I posted. You’re way overthinking breaking down the semantics of my word choice. But then you misinterpreted me, backtracked and agreed but then used 4 paragraphs to further debate the semantics. Which is fine if it’s something you want to analyze, it’s just not at all what I said.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I don’t disagree with any of that. It just is really far from anything I posted. You’re way overthinking breaking down the semantics of my word choice. But then you misinterpreted me, backtracked and agreed but then used 4 paragraphs to further debate the semantics. Which is fine if it’s something you want to analyze, it’s just not at all what I said.

Sure. You said you wondered if it was substance abuse or personal demon. I’m saying it’s just as easily neither. I don’t see why you think it’s far from what you posted. It’s not like I’m saying anything you posted was bad, I’m saying (sadly) that Botch’s overdose could just as easily have nothing to do with either of those things.

What’s all this “misinterpreted, backtracked” nonsense? It’s pretty straightforward. You’re good.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Red_Baron

Better yet, get these drugs off the street and offer a safer alternative.

Yeah exactly, as far as I know Jack Daniels has never been spiked with fentanyl.

[Meers]

Not a real surprise The couple of times that I ran across Jason Botchford in social situations he was always "that" loud, obnoxious cokehead who thought nobody was noticing.

Now, I regret not having taken the time to bitch-slap him back into reality. Sorry to sound harsh. But, when we let users get away with behaving like a**holes we're just enabling them.

My condolences to his family.

[djsFlames]

Is cocaine being normalized socially now or something? If so, that's a bit disturbing. Not the drug that comes to mind when you say a "casual" and "social" drug.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Is cocaine being normalized socially now or something? If so, that's a bit disturbing. Not the drug that comes to mind when you say a "casual" and "social" drug.

It's always been around and you probably just haven't been privy to it at gatherings of people. Much easier to use and function in a work or social environment compared to pot. I've seen people ruin their careers over it.

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Is cocaine being normalized socially now or something? If so, that's a bit disturbing. Not the drug that comes to mind when you say a "casual" and "social" drug.

Definitely.

When you don’t know what to look for you never notice it or the signs.

But it’s a very common thing these days.

Definitely a social and casual drug.


I honestly had no idea that fentynol was being used with cocaine, I thought it was a heroin thing. But conversations like this have made me aware of it and I’m happy to have learnt that.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by MrMike

Definitely.

When you don’t know what to look for you never notice it or the signs.

But it’s a very common thing these days.

Definitely a social and casual drug.


I honestly had no idea that fentynol was being used with cocaine, I thought it was a heroin thing. But conversations like this have made me aware of it and I’m happy to have learnt that.

The issue seems to be dealers that use the same scales to weigh out opiates with other drugs.

For people that use street drugs, only use from dealers that only sell cocaine. If you aren't sure, stay far away.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Is cocaine being normalized socially now or something? If so, that's a bit disturbing. Not the drug that comes to mind when you say a "casual" and "social" drug.

Cocaine has been around forever. I'm 40, and growing up and going to parties (funny enough, "partying" is another word for doing blow), it would be around depending on the people at the party, but anecdotally, from my own experience, it was only at about 20% of the parties (normal use of the word "party" here) and it wasn't done in the open. People would do it in the washroom alone if it's a house party because it's obvious when groups of people go into a bathroom together, or they'd go out for a smoke and walk off somewhere together private to do key bumps. This was when I was 16-20, so late 90s.

Later, starting in the mid 2000s, and again, anecdotally, it seemed like it became more prevalent to find it at house parties I'd be at (maybe at least 50%?) and depending on the group at the party, would often be done much more in the open. People would turn their back to the group and do a key bump so nobody would see, but it'd be known. TONS of people do it at clubs, though I haven't gone to clubs in years! Its definitely known as a social drug now and has been, I'd estimate, for a good 20 years.

Edit: I've never understood mixing fentanyl with blow. Fentanyl is a downer (it's an opiate), while cocaine is an upper. Wouldn't they not "go well" together? I'm not a pharmacist or a drug dealer though, so what do I know