Coroner 'calls for zero drugs deaths' target - Save The Next One
A coroner has called for a target of zero drug deaths in Northern Ireland.
Joe McCrisken made the call during an interview for our Save The Next One campaign.
"We should be able to get to zero," he said.
"It is maybe a bit naive of me to sit in this office and say that, but there is no other target we should be really aiming for."
The last year figures are available for, 2016, shows 126 drug deaths in Northern Ireland.
Increasingly the trend in fatalities is for prescription drugs to have been involved, replacing the older common cause of illegal drugs.
"Tramadol deaths for instance, peaked in 2016, with 33 deaths," said Mr McCrisken.
"Prescription drug deaths now outnumber deaths from illicit drugs, that's heroin, those classic unlawful drugs.
"That's the kind of trend that we've been seeing."
A lot of the investigations into those deaths have shown that it is not just one type of prescription drug being taken at a time either.
"We've also seen an increase in deaths caused by poly-drug use," the coroner explained.
"So that's where a death certificate would have three or more drugs contained on it.
"Ten years ago, we would have seen one drug, heroin, cocaine or ecstasy, something like that causing a death.
"Now we're seeing three, four, five.
"I just opened a file (before the interview), a post mortem report to be considered, where a young man had died after taking five individual prescription drugs.
"That's what we're seeing, people are taking a variety of drugs, prescription and illicit, small amounts, but they're all doing the same thing, slowing down the breathing and causing death."
Worryingly, the use of fentanyl in Northern Ireland is also reportedly on the rise.
The drug when mixed with heroin, makes the Class A substance 10,000 times more potent and is mixed with other drugs too.
"If you look west at North America, you can see they have a huge problem, with opioids and fentanyl in particular," the coroner said.
"And if you look east, Europe and Eastern Europe has issues with it too and we're caught in the middle of that.
"My big concern going forward is that fentanyl and opioids effectively replace heroin misuse and they've done that in some states in America, where heroin deaths have been completely replaced by synthetic opioid deaths, like fentanyl and that's a huge concern."
He also addressed frustrations over the length of time it takes to reach a conclusion on cause of death when there are drugs involved, which is usually around four to five months.
"It's great to be able to do things quickly," he said.
"It's great to be able to do things properly.
"I try to meet in the middle. It's better to do things properly than quickly.
"I explain that to families when I meet them, that I would much rather have a proper answer to talk to them about, than a speedy answer that's not right."
If you wish to contact us to tell us your story of how drugs have impacted your life, you can do so by emailing news@downtown.co.uk or if you wish to seek help for addiction issues, more information can be found here.