A surge in the sale of synthetic drugs in Ireland led to unprecedented levels of overdoses last year, as well as an increase in people seeking mental health services according to the HSE.
Last November it was believed that batches of heroin laced with lab-manufactured opioids called nitazines had led to a number of overdoses around Dublin and Cork city. However, later testing revealed that the batch in fact contained no heroin, and was only nitazenes, caffeine and paracetamol.
“They were being sold as new heroin or strong heroin, but when we did the analysis we identified that there was actually no heroin in it,” said Professor Eamon Keenan, National Clinical Lead for Addiction Services in the HSE, as reported by RTÉ News in an interview with Morning Ireland.
“It was nitazene drug mixed with paracetamol and caffeine and being sold. So in some ways we were wondering whether dealers were testing the market by introducing this new drug.”
Keenan further said that overdose deaths suspected of being linked to this case were being “prioritised” for investigation by coroners, and the HSE expects to have more information on the matter within a few months.
Nitazenes first came to the attention of authorities in Ireland in very small batches in 2022, but last year their impact increased greatly, being associated with 57 overdoses in Dublin, and a further 17 in Cork. Keenan called them a “drug of concern” for HSE addiction services.
Keenan alleges that since the Taliban came to power, they have cracked down on heroin exports from the country, leading to an estimated 95% reduction in production. This may have led drug gangs to seek alternative, more dangerous opioid options to sell.
In October of last year, it was reported that as many as six deaths in Belfast had been linked to the “super strength” drug’s use.
Nitazenes: Super strength street drugs linked to multiple NI deaths https://t.co/xiknupEapf
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 8, 2023
The news comes after a development in mid-December where a number of Irish prisoners were found to have overdosed on the potent drug fentanyl, leading to concerns that the drug had now been imported into the country.
Fears that killer drug Fentanyl is now in Ireland after prison overdoses https://t.co/dyNzB1FJ2v
— Irish Independent (@Independent_ie) December 15, 2023