Ireland topped the EU table for drug deaths with more than four times the average number of fatalities, according to a new report by the EU drugs agency. The European Drug Report 2024 shows that Ireland had 322 drug-induced deaths in 2020 — 97 deaths per million people, compared to the EU average of 22.5. The drug deaths published by the EMCDDA exclude deaths involving prescription drugs, which would bring Ireland’s total to 409 in 2020. She issued a warning about greater supplies of synthetic opioids, saying nitazenes are “highly potent and extremely deadly”. He said a “heroin drought” could happen as soon as a “few months” and that synthetic opioids are “easy to produce and more dangerous”.

Source: Irish Examiner June 12, 2024 07:00 UTC