The Health Service has been issuing Naloxone to drug users in Cork city - to combat drug overdoses caused heroin laced with the synthetic opioid Nitazene.
13 suspected overdoses by heroin users in Cork in recent days have been linked to traces of the drug, which is 25 times stronger than fentanyl, and available in pill or powder form.
57 people overdosed on the same substance in Dublin in a 2-week period last month.
Speaking on The Neil Prendeville Show, HSE Co-ordinator of Drug and Alcohol Services, David Lane says events in Dublin fore-warned authorities in Cork:
"What we have been doing over the last month, in terms of preparation for this, was trying to get as much Naloxone out into the city as possible, in terms of people who are using heroin and injecting drugs in our city. We have two methods of delivery in terms of naloxone in Cork and across Ireland. We have the injection - a needle that's actually handed around to people who are injecting drugs, but we also have a nasal spray as well. What we need to be able to do is respond very quickly to reverse the effects of that overdose".
