Sudden New Year's death in Hamilton suspected to be drug-related: reports

Party pills like these 'Pink Mitsubishis' contain dangerously-high levels of MDMA, and also caffeine, according to Know Your Stuff. Photo / Know Your Stuff

Police are refusing to say whether the death of a man on New Year's Day, and the hospitalisation of three others from the same Hamilton house, were drug-related, despite reports of a bad batch of MDMA.

The man who died at the Casey Ave house in the early hours of New Year's Day was reportedly local man Chris Waikato Matatahi, known as CZN.

Police are yet to formally release his identity.

A bad batch of the illegal party drug MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, is being blamed online for Matatahi's death.

One woman who fell ill at the Hamilton house posted on Instagram yesterday that MDMA taken that night was "laced with something that made me go to sleep" and that when she came to, she was very disoriented with medical personnel around her. The post has since been deleted.

Another person posted that the drugs must have been "cut with something else".

Police have been tight-lipped about their inquiries while the probe remains ongoing.

A fundraiser has been launched for the family of Chris Waikato Matatahi after he died in the early hours of New Year's Day.

A spokesman said that were "unable to say whether the incident was drug-related at this stage".

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been launched to cover Matatahi's funeral costs. A tangi is currently under way at Hukanui Marae in Hamilton before he is laid to rest at Taupiri Maunga on Monday.

"It's not how any of us imagined waking up to the New Year, but as most of you know our boy Czn has passed away," the page says.

"Nothing could have prepared any of us for this and we know all of his friends feel the way we do, completely shattered."

Online messages have paid tribute to Matatahi, saying, "You was one of a kind my yo", "Rest easy brother" and "Love you my homeboy".

Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Saunders earlier said police received a report that multiple people were unwell at the Casey Ave house around 3.20am on New Year's Day.

One person was found dead while three others were rushed to Waikato Hospital – one in a serious condition.

However, all three have been treated and since discharged, a police spokesman confirmed today.

On December 30, drug-related harm reduction service Know Your Stuff issued a warning about dangerously high-dosage MDMA pills circulating the country.

"These pills should be approached with caution," said Know Your Stuff, which operates independently throughout New Zealand with the support of the New Zealand Drug Foundation.

"Users are advised that the only way to guarantee safety is to not take them. For those who do choose to take them, our recommendation is to only take a third of a pill at most, and wait at least an hour before considering taking any more."

Pills tested were found to contain MDMA and a variety of fillers, with one type of pill (Pink Mitsubishis) containing caffeine, which can increase the risk of heart problems and psychosis. No other psychoactives were detected in the listed pills. Others by names of Yellow Ironman, Blue Punisher, White CNN and Blue New Yorker, and Yellow New Yorker were all found to have around three times the common dose of MDMA – which is around 80-120 milligrams.

Yesterday, the service said they had heard from all its New Year's Eve teams and concluded that n-ethylpentylone substitution pills were "almost non-existent among the samples tested".

"That's not to say it's gone from the market, but we've found substantially less than last year - so far, anyway," it said.

In 2018, a batch of drugs being passed off as MDMA was actually n-ethylpentylone - three times stronger than ecstasy – and resulted in 13 people being admitted to Christchurch Hospital, including a 15-year-old.