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INSIDE: THINGS-TO-DO GUIDE [pg. 20]
FRIDAY, FEB. 2, 2018 Your community. Your stories. Five Convenient Tri-Cities
TRI-CITY
NEWS
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COQUITLAM SKATERS INSPIRED BY OLYMPIAN
OPIOID CRISIS
OD #s rose in Coq. in 2017 29 people died last year, fentanyl factor in 21 cases Gary MCKenna
The Tri-CiTy News
MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Figure skaters Jagoda Cala, 13, Katelynn Petrak, 11 and Kayla Halliday, 12, chat before taking to the ice for their workout Tuesday with the Coquitlam Skating Club at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex. The skaters say they’ve been inspired to chase their own competitive dreams by the success of their clubmate, Larkyn Austman, who will represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea that begin next Friday. For more, please see story on page 28.
GRAB A BIKE OR HAIL A RIDE see stories on page 3
The number of overdose deaths has more than doubled in Coquitlam over the last year, an increase largely attributed to the rise of the use of fentanyl. According to figures released Wednesday by the BC Coroners Service, 29 people in the municipality died of overdoses in 2017, with fentanyl being detected in 21 of the cases. That is a sharp increase from 2016, when Coquitlam saw 14 illicit drug OD, of which eight saw the presence of fentanyl. Lisa Lapointe, B.C.’s chief coroner, said Coquitlam’s numbers mirror a larger trend across B.C. “Drug deaths not involving fentanyl have stayed relatively stable,” she said, noting that the figures are expected to increase as more post-mortem testing results are received. “But for fentanyl, we would not be seeing the deaths that we are seeing.” see fentanyl, page 9
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