It’s early Saturday morning and an Ontario father got the kind of phone call a parent dreads.
“The emergency room doctor advised us to get to hospital as quick as we can – our daughter was in trauma. She had a drug overdose,” the teenager’s dad, who didn’t want to be identified to protect his daughter, told Global News.
He said an ambulance rushed the 16-year-old to St. Michael’s Hospital after she went into seizures while at REBEL, a popular Toronto nightclub.
“We thought that we were going to lose her,” he said.
Meanwhile, someone did lose their child after Friday night’s “all ages” concert.
Toronto police confirmed one person who was at REBEL died of an overdose.
The victim was reportedly a 19-year-old woman.
“The people that lost their child, we feel horrible for them. My partner is crying today very much for the family – very, very sad for those people and something has to be done right away,” the man said.
He wants to get rid of “all ages” clubs.
Those clubs serve alcohol to patrons over 19 years old in a sectioned-off area, but there are also teenagers at the same events.
The dad said he has already put in calls to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
He said his daughter revealed a man inside the club gave her the first pill, then she bought two more.
REBEL, which is owned by INK Entertainment, did not respond to specific questions from Global News, but the company emailed a statement.
“REBEL has a zero tolerance drug policy, and also subjects every patron entering the venue to a full search. Anyone who is caught with an illegal substance is immediately denied entry,” the statement read in part.
There are reports of other possible, less serious overdoses at the same event.
Toronto police said they responded to four additional calls, but the alleged victims weren’t cooperative.
READ MORE: Drug overdose deaths continue to rise in B.C. in 2016
“They wanted to make no reports. They wouldn’t give their names. They wanted nothing to do with that investigation, so we don’t know if those incidences were actually overdoses or not,” Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson said.
He also said Toronto police don’t track the number of overdoses at nightclubs, not even fatal overdoses.
The dad of the 16-year-old who survived said police should pay more attention because in just one night, one teenager died and another suffering.
He said his daughter is home, but still recovering.
“She is bruised – traumatically, spiritually and physically.”
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