[Breitbart] A Vancouver man who opened up a mobile shop selling "clean" drugs, including heroin, cocaine, meth, and MDMA, died of a suspected fentanyl overdose. Jerry Martin, 51, dealt with a cocaine addiction and spent most of his youth homeless, VICE reported. He initially survived the overdose and was hospitalized for a few days before passing away on Friday.
In May, Martin opened a Drugs Store — the first brick-and-mortar shop in Canada and the U.S. to sell illicit substances, but his products were tested to be free of fentanyl or other adulterants. He set up shop in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, the epicenter of Canada’s overdose crisis. Less than 24 hours after its grand opening, authorities arrested him. His partner, Krista Thomas, told Vice that Martin "wanted to save lives."
"Jerry believed that people were self-medicating their trauma and so long as they were doing that, they needed a safe supply to do it," Thomas told VICE. "He’s no more exempt than any other human being on this earth. He had his own trauma and unfortunately, he relapsed."
In previous interviews with Vice, Martin said he decided to open up Drugs Store after his stepbrother, Gord Rennie, passed away from a drug overdose after being released from prison.