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RCMP believe two deaths in rural Saskatchewan may be drug overdoses

Mar 16, 2018 | 4:45 PM

Police say two sudden deaths in a rural Saskatchewan community may be the result of drug overdoses.

RCMP say the men were found when officers responded to a call about a death at a home in Maidstone near the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary.

One of the men was already dead and the other died while receiving medical care at the scene.

RCMP say it will take time for the chief coroner to confirm whether the men died of overdoses and, if so, what they had consumed.

Mounties also say substances believed to be cocaine and fentanyl were found in two people in the Kamsack area northeast of Regina on Wednesday.

The individuals did not require emergency medical treatment.

Police are warning the public that street drugs often represented as one thing can contain other substances such as fentanyl, which can be deadly even in small doses.

The latest deaths come after eight overdoses in the city of Saskatoon since last weekend. Three people died and Saskatoon police fear cocaine laced with fentanyl is circulating.

Three men were arrested after investigators took the unusual step of releasing the street name and phone number of an alleged drug dealer in the hope of preventing further deaths.

Police are still urging anyone who may have purchased cocaine from a dealer named “Lil Joe” or “Joe Bro” to hand the drug over to authorities. They say no charges will be laid.

RCMP, too, are urging people to avoid taking illegal substances.

“This particular drug may still be circulating in Saskatchewan. Contact should be completely avoided and police should be notified,” the Mounties said in a release Friday.

The Canadian Press