AT LEAST three people were recently admitted to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda after overdosing on liquid cocaine.
Following what appears to be the first recorded use of the drug in such a form in the country, one of them was treated at the intensive care unit in the hospital. All were released following their treatment. The incident happened over a weekend at the end of May.
A spokeswoman for the HSE in Dublin North East told the Sunday Tribune, "At least three individuals were brought into the emergency department at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital one evening some weeks ago due to their use of an undisclosed substance." The HSE would not disclose any further information.
Cocaine is hardly ever taken in its liquid state. The drug is usually only ever in liquid form when being smuggled. The drug is dissolved in a liquid and then soaked in a product . . . usually clothing . . . to avoid detection.
Powder cocaine is then extracted and prepared for sale.
Around the same time, two other deaths in the Drogheda area were linked to drug abuse.
One occurred in Co Meath, the other in Co Louth. The causes of both deaths are suspected ecstasy overdoses.
One of the men was reportedly found by his mother when he passed out on a couch following a night out. Gardai and the young men's families are currently awaiting the results of toxicology reports.
Gardai in Drogheda warned the public that drugs being bought in the town may not actually be what they appear. "These suppliers are not pharmaceutical people, " detective sergeant Nicky Kelly from Drogheda garda station told the Sunday Tribune. "We are aware of an analysis here of tablets which looked like ecstasy and then turned out to be amphetamines."
A sample of the liquid cocaine that led to the overdoses is currently being analysed by gardai.
"I know that it's out there and that we've come across it in small quantities, " Kelly said. "There are small amounts of it being seized from time to time."
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