HEROIN RELATED DEATHS PROMPTS USE OF MOBILE METHADONE UNITS

Mobile methadone units are to be dispatched to areas of Dublin without
treatment centres in response to the spate of heroin related deaths in
the past fortnight.

Health chiefs have issued an alert amid fears that contaminated heroin
may have killed eight drug addicts in the capital.

The coroner has been asked to investigate five of the mystery deaths,
while three are already the subject of a garda investigation. It
emerged last night that two other heroin users are still being treated
in hospital for an unidentified illness, while a further three were
also treated and discharged.

Four of the five deaths referred to the coroner fit the description of
a cluster of deaths in the Glasgow area of Scotland in the past two
weeks.

Anthrax, a chemical warfare poison, was initially suspected in the
Scottish cases, but has since been ruled out and health officials in
Glasgow and here are still trying still to determine the exact cause
of the deaths. All of the cases recorded here are in the Dublin area
and all, apart from those being investigated by gardai, involve
addicts admitted to St James' Hospital in the city. The latest
admission was yesterday.

Hospitals, GPs and drug clinics have been urged to be vigilant with
their clients and to make available any information they have that
might help track down the cause of the deaths.

Heroin users are being told to smoke, snort or swallow the drug rather
than inject it and have been warned to get medical help immediately if
they suspect they have been poisoned.

The alarm was raised after a surge in the number of admissions to
hospital of heroin users, who had become suddenly and seriously ill,
coincided with a Europe wide alert issued by Scottish
authorities.

A spokesperson for the ERHA said the authority's public health
department was in regular contact with all accident and emergency
hospitals in the region to ensure any further cases were picked up.

Gardai are, meanwhile, awaiting the results of toxicology tests on
samples from three addicts who died in the Dublin suburbs of Crumlin
and nearby Terenure.

All three of the deceased are thought to have taken heroin at the same
party last week, although the fact that one victim is also believed to
have suffered a violent attack and another was a key witness in an
upcoming murder trial may provide further clues to their deaths.

A garda spokesman said gardai were not involved in looking into any
other cases at the moment.

It is over a decade since the last known case of death from
contaminated heroin was recorded in this country, but a senior garda
source said yesterday it was impossible to know the scale of the problem.