LIONS BAY, B.C. — A politician in British Columbia is apologizing for spreading a false story about a teenage boy who supposedly died from a drug overdose.
Lions Bay Mayor Karl Buhr said in a council meeting last month that his 14-year-old son's friend dropped dead after inhaling "vape juice" laced with the highly potent opioid fentanyl.
Buhr says he's since been informed that much of the story was an urban myth.
The mayor is apologizing for repeating what he describes as a rumour and says he doesn't want his "ham-fistedness" to detract from the issue of fatal drug overdoses in the village located midway between Vancouver and Whistler.
The BC Coroners Service released data last week showing that 1,422 people across the province died from illicit drug overdoses last year.
Buhr says several teens in Lions Bay have died from overdoses over the past few years.
