Deaths from heroin in Ireland have dramatically increased, according to a new study that shows fatalities related to the drug have risen by 36pc.
According to the latest drugs report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), heroin claimed the lives of 86 people in Ireland in 2013, compared with 64 in 2012.
"In almost 50pc of these deaths, the user was injecting at the time," said Gillian Markey of the Health Research Board.
Opiate abuse accounted for more than half of the 9,523 drug users treated for addiction in 2014.
The number of cases involving heroin seizures increased from 690 in 2013 to 954 in 2014.
Methadone, used either alone or with another drug, continues to be the opiate most commonly implicated in poisoning deaths. In 2013, there were 93 deaths in which methadone was implicated.
Source: Irish Independent, 01/06/16
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