Call for drug testing labs following party drug death

Calls are being made for drug testing labs to be introduced here to help save lives.

It follows the death of 18-year-old Alex Ryan from Millstreet in Co Cork last week after he took a psychoactive substance at a party.

A conference in Dublin has heard about the success of the labs in Wales - which allow drug users test their drugs for potentially lethal ingredients.

The Health Minister has already indicated he is examining the proposal as part of a new national drugs strategy for 2017.

Director of Help Not Harm Graham de Barra thinks they would save lives: “When they receive samples of ecstasy, 50% of the time, it was not ecstasy.

“The health ramifications there are enormous, just to put it into perspective, if I order a pint of Guinness and it turns out to be a pint of whiskey, those are two, majorly different doses.”