Heroin linked to 3 deaths ‘not rogue batch’

The heroin linked to three deaths in Cork and Dublin is “normal” and not a rogue “super-strength” batch of the drug, tests show.

Garda and medical sources said the finding underlined the everyday risk facing injecting heroin users, particularly when they take it with other drugs and when their health is very poor.

The Irish Examiner has learned that tests conducted on heroin samples found they all appeared to be standard street heroin, cut with the usual diluting agents such as paracetamol and caffeine.