GARDAI fear more deaths from a batch of high-grade heroin which has killed two young men and left seven others fighting for their lives.
The batch is so pure it is lethal to users who are more used to a lower-grade opiate. It is suspected that one kilo of high-purity heroin -- worth up to €200,000 -- was smuggled into Cork last weekend, then cut and sold within days by dealers.
However, drug users were unaware that the heroin was of vastly higher purity than their normal supply -- with deadly consequences.
The scale of the tragedy emerged when nine ambulances were called to at least five separate addresses in 24 hours to deal with suspected drug-related collapses.
The two dead men have been named locally as Gary O'Sullivan (30), of Blackrock Road, and Gavin Thompson (25), of Wolfe Tone Street, Gurranabraher.
Mr O'Sullivan died just two months after a female friend lost her life to a suspected drugs overdose. Cork emergency consultant Dr Chris Luke said: "We think all nine cases have involved the intravenous injection of heroin. "We have two deaths and two near-deaths, where people were saved by hospital teams -- and five others who were ill as a result of taking . . . a very pure form of heroin.
Source: Irish INdependent, 06/10/2012
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