Huge hike in drug deaths in 1990s

DRUG-RELATED deaths rocketed in the 1990s, according to a support group working with the homeless and drug users.

Launching a campaign today to highlight the dangers of drug abuse, support group Merchant Quay Ireland (MQI) said drug deaths increased from seven in 1990 to 90 in 1999.

It said heroin abuse and drug-related deaths are firmly linked to poverty and social exclusion. And most of the country’s 15,000 heroin users, it emerged, are based in Dublin.