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Inquest into death of Rodney Levi told more addiction and health services needed
October 5, 2021 By Canadian Press
Oct. 5, 2021, New Brunswick – Doctors testifying at a coroner’s inquest into the police shooting of an Indigenous man in New Brunswick say more addictions and mental health services are needed in the province.
Rodney Levi was shot dead by RCMP on June 12, 2020, when they responded to a call about a man with knives at a home in Sunny Corner, N.B.
The five-member coroner’s jury heard today that 48-year-old Levi, from the Metepenagiag First Nation, was addicted for years to numerous drugs, including crystal meth.
Retired Dr. Linda Hudson says she started treating Levi in 2002, and she says he would regularly attend a detox clinic but would usually check out early and not take followup counselling.
She says there’s a need for more community-based services so people don’t have to travel far for help.
Hudson and Dr. Sergiv Ostashko, a psychiatrist at Miramichi Regional Hospital, both said Levi suffered from paranoia and often expressed suicidal thoughts.
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