Police in Mexico say that what initially seemed like a possible case of drugging or poisoning of several young adults at a Cancun resort is probably nothing of the sort. Instead, they say, the young people were simply heavily drunk.
College student Zara Hull went with some friends to the resort destination for a four-day trip, when, they say, they got sick from drinking tainted water. Along with her friend Kaylie Pitze, Hull passed out poolside, and her family shared pictures on social media showing the moment they fainted after drinking the allegedly contaminated water that was served from the bar at the side of the pool.
Jake Snider, Zara Hull’s boyfriend, drove both young women to a hospital, where he said a “nightmare” began to take place. At the same time, his mother, Stephanie Snider, was beside herself with worry. On her social media page, Mrs. Snider said she thought human traffickers had sent their sights on the girls, possibly to harvest their organs, and that she was worried that her son Jake might be next.
But despite the family’s fears that someone at the resort drugged the young women, Mexican police said there is no evidence of that. Why? Well, a toxicology screening found no illicit drugs in their blood, for starters. Local state attorney general Raciel López Salazar said there was no “drug dealing” involving anything like fentanyl, the highly potent and dangerous synthetic opiate. Instead, what happened to the young people was “simple alcohol consumption.”
And it looks like authorities may believe the students were exaggerating or outright lying. After the students claimed they had been drugged, police started investigating and found that they were not even staying in Cancun as they claimed, but at a hotel in Isla Mujeres. That, combined with the clean drug tests, said Salazar, convinced authorities that what probably happened was just a night of severe over-drinking.
Mexico’s tourism secretary Bernardo Cueto said he was aware of the allegations in this “very rare case,” but that the families have not filed any formal complaints. He said the “story” they told unfortunately affected the image of the tourist destination they claimed may have sickened them.
