Pubdate: Thu, 15 Sep 2016
Source: Now, The (Surrey, CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462

A TERRIBLE WAKEUP CALL ABOUT DRUGS

Fewer messages hit home stronger than those rooted in a death,
particularly that of a young person.

And the message delivered by the South Surrey family of 20-year-old
Danika Koltai in recent days is no exception.

Danika, who was a popular employee at the Morgan Crossing Starbucks at
the time of her death,died of a drug overdose Sept. 1 in Delta.

In a heart-wrenching Facebook post, her father Tom describes her
passing as the result of "an accidental but deadly concoction of
prescription and non-prescription" drugs.

Specifics of the circumstances surrounding Danika's death have not
been made public.

But her father emphasizes a point that perhaps not everyone considers
when learning of such tragedies: that what happened to Danika could
happen to anyone who uses drugs, regardless of stature, and regardless
of whether they use on a regular basis, recreationally or "just this
once."

Like so many others before her who have overdosed - and there have
been hundreds in B.C. this year already, with many linked to the
deadly opioid fentanyl - a choice was made the night she died, one
that brought consequences Danika likely never considered could ever
happen to her.

Her older brother, who also reached out on Facebook, hopes that
sharing what happened to Danika will give others pause.

"This is a wakeup call," he writes.

As Danika's father states, "your own safety is a direct function of
your chosen behaviours."

How much stronger does the message need to be?
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MAP posted-by: Matt