The number of deaths from heroin use has more than trebled since records began.
And the number of drug users dying from cocaine is falling.
However, alcohol still accounts for the vast majority of deaths among drug users and was responsible for just over 40pc of all such deaths in the six years from 2004 to 2009.
Latest figures from the Health Research Board's (HRB) National Drug-Related Deaths Index show that 108 addicts died after taking heroin in 2009, up by 20pc from the year before.
There were 638 drug-related deaths in 2009 and heroin accounted for one-fifth of these.
The number of addicts dying from heroin has been rising steadily since the HRB began recording drug-related deaths in 2004.
Source: Breda Heffernan, Irish Independent, 05/12/2011
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