As a 16-year-old Oak Bay High School student lay unresponsive in a hospital bed after a house party last month, doctors and nurses were “tugging on her ears and yelling her name to no avail,” says her mother, Jodie Laframboise. “My worst nightmare.”
It was Oct. 4, and Laframboise’s daughter Georgia had been to a party at the home of a close friend, also a student at Oak Bay High School, intending to sleep over.
At about 11:45 p.m., however, the hosts shut down the event because attendance had unexpectedly doubled and the gathering had become loud.
As about 50 party-goers headed to Domino’s Pizza on Foul Bay Road at Oak Bay Avenue, Georgia felt odd, as if her head were spinning. She immediately began vomiting and passed out on the grass, she said. Her friend called her dad.
Father Kyle — the Times Colonist has agreed not to use his last name — said he got to the scene within about 10 to 15 minutes to find his daughter lying on the ground “totally unconscious, like a big limp noodle.”
He couldn’t get her pulse, and “her head was just flopping forward,” he said, adding she had no control of her extremities and was at risk of choking.
Kyle picked up his daughter, loaded her into his truck, and raced to nearby Royal Jubilee Hospital — one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding his daughter’s head erect.
At the hospital, a team of clinicians quickly encircled the girl and rushed her away, cutting open her shirt and working on her, he said.
Kyle called his former wife at about midnight.
“I immediately thought she had been in an accident or died,” said Laframboise. “My heart nearly stopped — I wanted to throw up. Her dad had just arrived at Jubilee and shared that her pulse was weak, she was completely unconscious.”
Georgia’s potassium levels were low and she had a depressed heartbeat. Blood tests showed her blood-alcohol level was low — the result of a couple of drinks.
Georgia said she had brought three cans of Mike’s Hard Lemonade to the party, an amount she’s consumed in the past with no ill effects. “That’s all I drank that night,” she said.
More testing eliminated the possibility of illicit toxic drugs such as fentanyl in her system.
“I was feeling sick and beside myself — not knowing if she was going to wake up was the hardest part,” said Kyle. “I just kept praying for her, sitting there just to see some sort of movement or something.”
Given Georgia’s symptoms, the clinical team soon suspected GHB — gamma-hydroxybutyrate — or a similar drug, said Kyle. Results from those toxicology tests have yet to come back.
Laframboise said she was “genuinely shocked” that that could have happened at a house party of high schoolers in Oak Bay. “It seems too extreme to be true for this age level, but I suppose that the access and availability of drugs is easier than ever.”
GHB, a pharmaceutical that is also produced illegally as a street drug, is a central-nervous-system depressant.
It most often comes in an odourless, tasteless liquid rather than a powder or capsule. At low doses, it can mimic the effects of alcohol, while at higher concentrations, it can escalate from causing drowsiness and dizziness to nausea and vomiting, all the way to sending a person into a deep sleep with possible subsequent amnesia.
An overdose can result in difficulty breathing, a lowered heart rate, convulsions and death, according to the Ontario-based Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
GHB was popular as a club drug in the 1990s but eventually became known as a “date-rape” drug, sometimes slipped into a person’s drink to facilitate a sexual assault.
Mixed with alcohol, it can be “extremely dangerous,” according to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Victoria mother Tracy Sims was recently told that her 18-year-old daughter Samantha Sims-Somerville’s death in 2021 from a toxic combination of alcohol and drugs is now being investigated as a homicide. Sims has fought for years to prove her daughter and a friend were lured by older men and drugged with lethal doses of GHB.
Around six hours after Georgia’s strange symptoms began — about 6 a.m. — her eyelids started flickering.
She said she was “stunned” to discover she was in hospital. “I was glad I was alive,” she said. “It was very scary.”
She believes she knows who might have drugged her — someone who is part of a group rumoured to have drugged other girls in the past, she said.
On Monday, she filed a police complaint.
Saanich police confirmed they are investigating a report of an individual being drugged at a house party in Oak Bay, but said they won’t be commenting further because it’s an active investigation.
Police called drink-spiking an “under-reported crime” and said anyone who believes they have been administered a substance without their knowledge should contact them.
Investigations into drink tampering can result in police recommending charges of administering a noxious substance or possession of a controlled substance, police said.
Insp. Damian Kowalewich said the department’s community engagement division works with Island Health to deliver preventative programs like the P.A.R.T.Y. program, offering education on the risks associated with alcohol and drugs.
It advises not leaving a drink unattended, covering the mouth of one’s glass or bottle to avoid having something slipped in it, watching your drink being poured or opened, and not consuming a drink if it changes in taste or colour.
The Greater Victoria School District said in a statement that Oak Bay High School administration is aware of concerns regarding drugs potentially being used at parties in the community. It thanked those “who have brought these concerns forward” and police who are following up, and reminded students of available counselling supports.
Laframboise, a counsellor, said parents and others need to be transparent with youth about the dangers at such gatherings and advise youth how to keep themselves and their friends safe.
She said she and Georgia’s dad have always advised their kids of potential risks at parties.
“[And] we have always made it very clear to our kids that no matter what trouble they are in, they can always call and we will come for them immediately,” said Laframboise.
Kyle maintains his daughter could have choked on her vomit had he not been called.
As for Georgia, she is undergoing further testing on her heart to check for any permanent damage, and is no longer attending parties or sleepovers for now.
She said she is speaking out to spread awareness and prevent future incidents like hers, adding young women shouldn’t be afraid to gather.
“No girl deserves to go through what I went through,” said Georgia. “We’re just trying to have fun without having to worry about being drugged and almost dying.”
