Courtesy of Tim Petruk/Kamloops This Week

An alleged drug dealer accused of mistakenly selling laced heroin to a trio of women who overdosed on fentanyl after snorting what they thought was cocaine is standing trial this week in a Kamloops courtroom.
Timothy Meldrum, 47, has pleaded not guilty to one count of trafficking cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil.
According to federal Crown prosecutor Anthony Varesi, Meldrum was supplying drugs to three women socializing in a downtown Merritt home on June 7, 2017.
One of the women, Tia Powell, testified she and her friends drank alcohol throughout the day. 
At some point, one of the women decided she wanted to do cocaine, Powell said, noting the friends split one gram three ways.
A few hours later, they did the same thing, using the same drug dealer both times — a man Powell said she recognized as Meldrum, a frequent customer at the pizza restaurant where she worked.
When the women agreed to split one more gram of cocaine, Powell said, the same dealer was called. She said Meldrum picked the trio up in his car and sold them “a package” of drugs.
Powell described it as a folded piece of paper. She said the cocaine purchased earlier in the day came in plastic baggies.
Court heard Powell “chopped up” the cocaine with a bank card and noticed it looked different.
“It had a pink tinge to it,” she said.
“The other stuff was white.”
The women, who by then had been drinking for hours, snorted it anyway. 
A few minutes later, Powell said, Meldrum showed up at the house.
“He said he came back for ‘the stuff,’” she said.
“He said he had gave us the wrong package and that we had heroin. I said we’d already done some but that I’d give him the rest if he wanted it.”
“How did he respond to that?” Varesi asked.
“He said, ‘You’re on your own,’ and he ran down the stairs and left.”
A few minutes later, Powell said, one of her friends passed out and fell to the floor. 
She was next to lose consciousness, court heard.
“I remember walking away and then I just crashed into the floor and that was it,” Powell said, noting she remembers apologizing to a doctor after waking up in the hospital.
Varesi said each of the women was revived by Naloxone. He said police tested powder found in the house after the women passed out and it tested positive for heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil.
The trial, in front of B.C. Supreme Court Justice Len Marchand, is expected to conclude this week.
Tim Petruk is a reporter with Kamloops This Week.