Alex Ryan death - Painful warning on use of drugs

It cannot have been easy for the family of a young man who died after ingesting an illegal drug to hear a judge, in the criminal case that followed, speak about what he called “the arrogant disregard by young people” of the laws in respect of drug-taking.

Circuit Judge Gerard O’Brien said a sense of middle-class entitlement by young people looking for the “greatest high” formed the background to a Co Cork teenager’s death at an orgy of drink and drugs.

Teenager Alex Ryan paid the ultimate price by taking a so-called designer drug, N-bomb, at a Cork City party last January.