A TEENAGER died after taking ecstasy in Stratford, an inquest has been told.
Vakaris Valuzis and four friends arranged to meet up and take the drug at a house in Wetherby Way last June.
According to his friends, each took around 0.5 milligrams of the drug which they crushed and wrapped in Rizla paper before swallowing.
One of the teenagers, who were all aged 16 and 17, thought Lithuanian-born Vakaris had taken double the amount in contrast to the other witness accounts.
The group went outside when 17-year-old Vakaris ran off. He was later found back at the house where they had taken the drugs.
The college student was sat on the doorstep looking at his phone and seemed normal, according to one of his friends.
He then shut himself in the bathroom and later his friends, who were checking on him throughout the evening, found him in a bedroom. After a further check they said Vakaris was on the floor making ‘jerking movements’ and unable to speak properly. They helped him outside and called an ambulance after he became hot and began sweating.
The teenager was rushed to Warwick Hospital where he died after suffering cardiac arrest and multiple organ failure.
The four friends were taken to hospital as a precaution. One of the group suffered some kidney damage.
One of Vakaris’ friends admitted the pair had ‘dabbled’ in drugs twice in the months leading up the fatal incident.
His mother Loreta Valuziene said she was aware her son had dabbled and was interested in drugs, and added he would have taken the drugs of his own volition. But overall she described him as a good and very well behaved boy.
Warwickshire coroner Sean McGovern accepted the boys’ accounts of what happened and ruled the death as drug related since no unexplained injuries or suspicious circumstances had been reported.
He said: “Of the five boys, he became unwell and to their credit they called an ambulance and were open and honest about what happened, and that drugs had been taken.
“Sadly, although he was given a great deal of medical attention, paramedics were unable to resuscitate him and as a result of that he died.
“I certainly don’t want to preach but when you take illicit drugs you always run a risk, and young people who take drugs need to reflect on that risk and the situations inflicted on their parents when they die as teenagers.”
Police say investigations into the supply of the drugs are ongoing.
