INQUEST SAYS POLICE NEED DRUG EDUCATION

SASKATOON -- An inquest looking into the overdose death of a woman
who had been in police custody has concluded officers need more drug education.

That was one of eight recommendations by the jury looking into the
case of Dona Sanderson, 42.

She had been arrested on drug charges and an outstanding warrant.

She suffered severe brain damage after a bag of cocaine she had in
her vagina broke open, and died six days later when her family took
her off life support.

The jury also said the city needs a detoxification facility with
long-term treatment and after-care programs and counselling.

Michelle LeClaire-Harding, the Sanderson family's lawyer, called the
recommendations "excellent."

"I think those last moments of her life were made loud and clear, but
I don't think there will ever be closure," she added.

There is no binding requirement in the Coroner's Act for any
recommendations to be acted on, so "at the end of the day, it's up to
the police to decide what they're going to do," LeClaire-Harding said.

The jury also suggested participants in the provincial methadone
program should submit to weekly drug-testing upon receipt of their
dosage. Sanderson was part of the program but her system also
contained cocaine, the active ingredient in cannabis and a sedative.

The police service should salvage the matron program it scrapped 20
years ago, which had female civilians working in the area of the
cells to solely attend to female inmates' needs, the jury recommended.

The matron would be an advocate and provide peer support and guidance.

Alyson Edwards of the police service said no comment would be made
until department officials had a chance to look at the full report.