Reports circulating of a rogue batch of high-strength heroin in Cork following the recent drug-related deaths of two homeless people have been discounted after tests found nothing unusual in samples tested.
Samples of heroin were taken by gardaí after reports came back from a number of local drug workers that heroin users were complaining of high-strength heroin.
The samples were from the same batch of heroin which the two homeless men are suspected of taking.
The two men died in a period of four days in Cork city centre earlier this month, around the same time homeless man Jonathan Corrie died close to the Dáil.
The samples were sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory for testing.
“There is nothing in the tests that is sinister; neither high strength nor contaminants,” said a Garda source.
The source pointed out that official figures show more than one person dies from drugs every day on average.
The Garda source said “unfortunately these things happen” with people living on the streets and using drugs.
He said it was often the case that such deaths involve heroin combined with other drugs, including tranquillisers like benzodiazepines.
Source: Cormac O'Keeffe, Irish Examiner, 12/12/14
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