Warning of 12 deaths from heroin overdoses
“I was seeing one or two heroin cases a year in the early years of this decade,” said Dr Chris Luke, a consultant in Emergency Medicine at Cork University Hospital (CUH) and the Mercy University Hospital (MUH).
“In the last nine months, I have seen a heroin case almost every day. That’s a shocking change.
“We will probably see no deaths from swine flu in Ireland in the coming year. We have to get real about the city’s heroin problem. The reality is that the city is already in the grip of a heroin epidemic.”
Dr Luke’s warning and grim predictions come after leading anti-drugs campaigner Cllr Jonathan O’Brien’s call for a concerted effort by a range of state agencies to deal with the crisis.
“I now expect to see heroin cases every day at work in MUH,” Dr Luke said.
Heroin epidemics in Dublin, Edinburgh and Liverpool began with a surge in the numbers of people smoking heroin.
“It begins with smoking for a year or two and we are now seeing people in Cork injecting it,” he said.
“We are seeing that tide turn in Cork. I have seen a lot of overdoses from smoking heroin — about eight to 10 in the last few months alone.
“I have seen the entire spectrum of heroin presentations — from the novice who has been dabbling or experimenting, and who has little abscesses on their wrists, to the dying junkie with anorexia, massive abscesses and life-threatening infections like hepatitis B and C.
“I have seen several cases in the last week alone. I know of three or four deaths in the city in the last four months,” Dr Luke said.
“There have been 12 or more deaths from heroin in this city in the last year and there will be another 12 deaths in the coming year.”
The age profile of heroin users presenting at city hospitals ranges from teenagers as young as 15 to people in their mid-30s.
Most heroin-related deaths are due to respiratory arrest, especially in those who are not accustomed to the drug.
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