New drugs are more potent and dangerous: HSE issues drugs warning

Vivienne Clarke

The HSE has commenced a campaign to raise awareness of the current changes in the drug market and the extra danger from new drugs.

Nicki Killeen, HSE Emerging Drug Trends Manager, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that while the core message from the HSE was that drugs were not safe to use, but they were aware that the drug landscape was changing and use was “occurring across all strands of society, across all age demographics and we do suspect that this weekend there will be high levels of use.”

Killeen added that the HSE was aware that drug use was occurring in “pubs, clubs, house settings and this is the same for this weekend.

“At the moment we're trying to create awareness of some of the current drug market changes in relation to powders and high strength drugs so people are aware this weekend in terms of the extra risks that we feel are there at the moment.”

Of major concern is a pink powder, known as “pink cocaine”, which does not contain cocaine, but a combination of substances of concern such as ketamine, as well as bulking agents.

Another concern is a drug called 3MMC, which Killeen described as a stimulant cathinone.

“Also we found a drug which we've never found before in Ireland, which is a stimulant drug as well. So people that are buying these powders possibly think that it is coloured cocaine when in fact it has extra risk because it could contain up to five different types of drugs in that one powder.

“This is a really difficult message for us to communicate from a harm reduction perspective. So if people are using, so we have issued a number of alerts on pills and often they can be two to three times the average adult dose.”

“Our harm reduction message is trying to raise awareness of starting really low if you do choose to use. It is really difficult for us to give accurate information on how to stay safe because every bag is different.

"So we're really trying to get young people to realise that that bag has significant risk, but also what we're seeing across Ireland and the UK is that young people are putting these powders into drinks and consuming quite a lot of MDMA in one dose.”

The message for the public was to be aware of the potency of the drugs now available and the fact that they increase the risk of an emergency or a fatality.