'Implement plans' to cut overdoses - Merchants Quay Ireland

The government needs to increase access to naloxone, a so-called heroin 'overdose antidote', to reduce the number of deaths associated with overdoses, charities said. File Picture: Getty

The Government has been called on to fully implement the National Drugs Strategy by ensuring greater access to a life-saving ‘overdose antidote’ and funding more detox and rehabilitation beds.

The calls from Merchants Quay Ireland marked International Overdose Day.

Drug overdoses, or poisonings, have fluctuated in Ireland, rising from 339 in 2010 to a high of 401 in 2013, before dropping to around 370 in the following years, rising slightly to 376 in 2017.

Broken down by county, the number of poisoning deaths between 2010 and 2017 increased from 138 to 146 in Dublin, from 27 to 43 in Cork, from eight to 15 in Limerick and from seven to 10 in Clare.

Prescription drugs were implicated in the majority of poisoning deaths in 2017, with benzodiazepines (prescription tranquillisers) continuing to be the most common group of prescription drugs implicated.

Methadone was linked to a quarter of poisonings, while heroin poisoning deaths increased from 74 in 2016 to 77 in 2017. 

Alcohol was the single most common drug implicated, linked to a third of all poisoning deaths in 2017.

MQI, the national homeless and addiction charity, called for the full, and urgent, implementation of the National Drugs Strategy.

This included increasing access to naloxone, often described as a heroin ‘overdose antidote’, as well as funding for additional detox and rehabilitation beds.

Timely administration of naloxone can rapidly reverse opioid overdoses.

MQI also called on the Government to deliver on a medically supervised injecting facility in Dublin, currently subject to judicial review.

"Every drug death is a family tragedy,” said MQI CEO Paula Byrne. 

“When a person is lost to overdose, it creates a ripple effect that reverberates through families, communities, and even generations.” 

HSE Clinical Lead for Addiction, Dr Eamon Keenan warned people about the emergence of ‘new’ or ‘fake’ benzodiazepines

“These emerging drugs carry significant risks in terms of contamination and overdose,” he said, adding that they had developed new resources on www.drugs.ie.

Drugs strategy minister Frank Feighan said the high number of deaths highlighted the need for a “health-led approach” to drugs.