The Dublin County Coroner said today that cocaine was the most common cause of death in more than half of all inquests into drug related deaths heard at Dublin County Coroner's Court this year.
Dr Kieran Geraghty told Dublin County Coroner's Court today that of the 47 inquests into drug related death heard at the Court in 2007, 26 of them were cocaine related, 16 were heroin related and five were ecstasy related.
Speaking at a double inquest into the deaths of two teenagers who drowned while intoxicated by cocaine and ecstacy, Dr Geraghty said: "But by far the biggest killer is cocaine. Of the 26 cocaine related inquests, cocaine toxicity on its own accounted for 15 deaths, while cocaine together with heroin accounted for a further six deaths," said Dr Geraghty.
"We had two occasions where people took their own lives after taking cocaine and a single car crash," which involved cocaine , "and now we have two deaths from drowning," he said.
"I hope at least some David White and Shane Coughlan, both 18, were reported missing on February 25, 2007 when they failed to return from a trip to a petrol station to buy cigarettes and mobile phone credit in the early hours of the morning.They had been socialising with friends.
Mr Coughlan's body was recovered from the Grand Canal three days later by a Garda water unit , while Mr White's body was recovered six days after his disappearance.
The inquest heard they died by drowning with cocaine and ecstasy intoxication as a contributory cause.
"This is a very tragic case," said Dr Geraghty. "Looking back on 2007 there has been a large number of inquests into drug related deaths. And nearly all of the deaths involved young people."