Online pills blamed for B.C. woman's death

A rare provincewide public safety bulletin about buying pharmaceutical drugs online has been issued by the B.C. Coroners Service following the recent death of a Vancouver Island woman.

The regional coroner has linked the death of a 57-year-old woman in the Campbell River area to sedative and anti-anxiety pills bought over the internet.

The sedative has been linked to overdose deaths in other countries, and is illegal in Canada. The anti-anxiety medication is only sold in Canada with a doctor's prescription.

Toxicology tests determined the woman likely died of poisoning.

Rose Stanton said toxicology results show all the pills found in the woman's home have deadly filler material.

"They were able to confirm that the filler material in the pills contained a significant range and amount of trace metals, some of which are quite dangerous and potentially fatal to human beings," she told CBC News.

"And we're still waiting for an interpretation of these levels. But we certainly think that this may be the cause of this woman's death."

The province says the website the woman bought the pills from is no longer up and running.

Officials note that a group of companies continues to create websites to sell drugs online, only to shut down and reopen under a new web address every few days.

Health Canada has now launched an investigation.

In the meantime, the province is asking people to take any online-purchased drugs they're not sure about to a pharmacy for safe disposal.