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‘It rips a part of you away’: grieving Saskatoon father speaks out against fentanyl

Click to play video: 'Saskatoon father speaks out after his daughter died of a suspected fentanyl overdose'
Saskatoon father speaks out after his daughter died of a suspected fentanyl overdose
WATCH: A Saskatoon father speaks out after his daughter died of a suspected fentanyl overdose. Meaghan Craig reports. – Jun 14, 2017

Michael Davidson tragically lost his daughter to a suspected fentanyl overdose after exhausting every avenue in his power to keep her safe.

“I was at work that afternoon and I got a phone call that told me I needed to get to her apartment because she barely had a pulse and she was hardly breathing,” said Davidson.

READ MORE: Local health groups urge more action following string of reported overdoses

He raced to Confederation Drive on Friday afternoon to be with his daughter but instead was greeted by police, paramedics and his mother.

“She said ‘I’m so sorry’,” he said. “I said ‘what for?’ Then it hit me. I already knew.”

His daughter Kally Davidson had died of suspected fentanyl overdose at the age of 18.

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“You can imagine all you want what this feels like and whatever you think – you need to multiply by a thousand.”

On the afternoon of June 9, Kally was supposed to move back in with her grandmother and get her life back on track after she tried fentanyl approximately two years ago for the first time,

Her father said the drug got a hold of her and never let go.

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“It’s got stop because our children are the ones that are dying,” Davidson said.

“The people putting this stuff on the streets are the worst ones of all because they’re the ones killing these people.”

READ MORE: Fentanyl trafficking bust made in Saskatoon

On Sunday, police arrested and charged eight people in connection with fentanyl trafficking in Saskatoon.

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All eight accused were in their 20s and 75 pills believed to be fentanyl were seized during the drug bust on Laurier Drive and Molland Lane.

Kally will be the second young woman to die of a suspected fentanyl overdose in Saskatoon since the beginning of May.

“She went from being a little girl that had many friends and was involved with cheer then this crap takes her away.”

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On two occasions in 2016, Kally’s family says they went before a provincial court judge begging for her to be forced into detox.

Their request was granted but the Youth Drug Detoxification and Stabilization Act would no longer be an option when she turned 18 in March.

“The laws just have to change so that there’s a way so that we can just take our children and say no this is the way it is, screw the human rights that’s not helping here.”

READ MORE: Saskatoon police use naloxone to revive fentanyl overdose victim

Ideally, Michael said his daughter would have been taken from the Paul Dojack Youth Centre directly into police custody and sent to a treatment facility after.

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By speaking out, he hopes his daughter’s death will save even just one life and spare another family from the unimaginable pain that his family is going through.

“It really rips a part of you away that you’ll never get back.”

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