Cocaine deaths - Issues to confront

JUST before Christmas cocaine deaths dominated the headlines for a few fleeting weeks.

The tragic, though far from unexceptional, death of Katie French brought a transient frisson to a shabby and sad waste of young lives.

Yesterday’s statement from Dublin’s City Coroner that cocaine was a factor in almost one third of all inquests into drug-related deaths in the capital last year can only add to the concern surrounding our seemingly changing attitudes to cocaine use.