The Irish bishops have expressed their concern over the appalling increase in the use of cocaine all over the country and appealed to those faced with the option of using drugs over Christmas to say No. At the conclusion of their winter meeting, the bishops asked people to join with them in prayer and remembrance of those who have suffered due to drugs, and for their families.
“There is no such thing as a 100 per cent safe use of any illegal drug, and this is also true for the euphemistically termed “social / recreational” use of cocaine or other stimulants,” said the bishops.
“There are always high risks of overdose due to contamination, lack of tolerance to purity or the mixing with other drugs, especially alcohol,” they added.
The bishops asked for support for the agencies and volunteers who “reach out to those who have been damaged by the use of drugs,” and encouraged young people and youth leaders to promote alternative lifestyle choices such as sports, voluntary work and other hobbies.
“Those who may be faced with the option of using drugs over the Christmas period should consider the choices they make; the risks involved; the real harm caused to self and families; and, to make a choice to say ‘No’,” they said, and added “Let us all play our part in making this Christmas be a joyful, peaceful and prayerful time without the pain and sadness of drug and alcohol related deaths.”
Meanwhile following a spate of cocaine related deaths in Ireland, a consultant has warned that the deaths are not due to 'bad batch' of drug.
Dr Chris Luke told the Irish Independent that taking cocaine is a form of Russian roulette because of the effects of the drug on blood pressure. "It raises the blood pressure and raises the heart rate. Sometimes it raises it so much that it collapses into a cardiac arrest or a blood vessel bursts and you have a heart attack or a stroke," the Cork University Hospital A&E consultant said.
Users can also suffer a collapse of the lung because it cannot cope with the pressure of breathing in and out rapidly. Dr Luke said it is impossible to predict who among occasional cocaine users has an underlying vulnerability, and some will not have the capacity to metabolise it.
Most cocaine deaths are due to violence and aggression -- but one-third will die as a result of toxicity and in the majority of these cases this will result in a cardiac arrest. In most of those cases it is the combination of alcohol and cocaine that kills, he added.
A special Prime Time Investigates documentary’ screened on RTÉ on Monday (10th Dec 07) took samples from surfaces in 269 bathrooms in pubs, clubs and other venues nationwide, including toilets in RTÉ, and forensically tested them for cocaine. Dr John Fox, head of forensic science at Dublin Institute of Technology found that more than 90 per cent of the venues nationwide tested positive for the drug.
Dr Des Corrigan, the head of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, said the results confirmed the prevalence of cocaine in the country.
"I think it just gives physical expression in all that we have learned and that we have to say to the Government about the availability of cocaine right throughout the country and the fact that it is more widespread."
Dr John Ryan, a consultant in emergency medicine at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin told the programme the hospital was seeing the effects of cocaine on a daily basis.
"We have seen people having a myocardial infarction or a heart attack. We've seen some critically ill patients with strokes or subarachnoid haemorrhages. We've seen fatalities," he said.
Recent weeks have seen a spate of cocaine related tragedies. John Grey (23) and Kevin Doyle (21) consumed cocaine at a party in Waterford on November 24 and were among 14 people taken to hospital. Both young men went on to ventilators which were subsequently turned off, Doyle dying 4th December and Grey on 8th December.Five young men were seriously ill in hospital following drug-drink overdoses on Monday night, the very day that supermodel Katy French was buried.
Ms French died on Thursday evening (6th Dec) after falling ill at a house in Co Meath five days earlier.
The Irish Independent reports that a post mortem examination showed she had suffered brain damage and earlier tests indicated there were traces of cocaine in her body. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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