A CORONER has expressed concern at the increasing number of cases where cocaine sold on the streets is cut with lignocaine, a heart drug and local anaesthetic that increases the cardio-toxic effects of cocaine.
Dublin city coroner Dr Brian Farrell said the use of lignocaine to cut cocaine was very much "a live issue", and something the authorities were very concerned about. "This is the second inquest this week where we've found street cocaine cut with lignocaine," he said.
The coroner made his comments at an inquest yesterday into the death of mother of one Caitríona O'Reilly (41), of Palace Garden Apartments, Dame Street, Dublin 2.
Ms O'Reilly was discovered dead in bed by her boyfriend, Mark Bennett, on November 8th, 2007.
When gardaí arrived at the apartment they found uncapped syringes, tablet containers strewn in the sitting room and empty bottles of vodka in the kitchen and sittingroom.
A postmortem found that Ms O'Reilly died from drugs intoxication due to a combination of cocaine, heroin, sedative drugs and a small amount of alcohol.Lignocaine was also detected in her system.
Sgt Anthony Butler, of Pearse Street Garda station, told the inquest that Mr Bennett, who met Ms O'Reilly at the end of June 2007, told gardaí he was trying to get her to stop taking drugs.
The coroner returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
"This is something we [frequently] see in the Coroner's Court, reflecting the drug problem in our society at the moment," said Dr Farrell.
Earlier in the week an inquest into the death of a 33-year-old woman from cardiac arrest due to cocaine use heard she also had lignocane in her system. The coroner said he would report the death to the drug enforcement authorities because of the presence of lignocaine. He first expressed concerns about lignocaine use in August, when two inquests heard both deceased had consumed cocaine and lignocaine.