Teenage addict died while on waiting list for treatment

A teenage woman on a waiting list for treatment for addiction died before a place became available. And it was a tragedy that was becoming all too commonplace, a conference heard yesterday.

Eileen Crosbie, a treatment manager at Renewal House — an extended treatment centre for addicts — said an 18-year-old girl who was two months on the waiting list died before she could be admitted.

“I rang her to tell her we had a place and her father answered. He said: ‘Eileen, we’ve just come from her graveside’,” she said.