Changes in the distribution and management of methadone, the substitute drug for heroin addicts, were recommended by a Dublin County Coroner yesterday during an inquest on a young father of three.
Dr Bartley Sheehan made his recommendations after a member of the inquest jury told him young people were taking methodone like a drink of water and were unaware that it was itself a dangerous drug when used as a cocktail with alcohol.
The inquest in the Dublin County Coroner's court in Dun Laoghaire heard that Mr Joseph Dunne (25), of Gleantan, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, died of methadone poisoning last October after "taking a swig" of a large bottle of the prescribed drug.
His partner, Ms Jean Matthews, a mother of three, told the inquest they had each drunk five cans of cider when Mr Dunne decided to move a bottle of methadone from an upstairs room to the kitchen in order to hide it from the children.
Ms Matthews said the methadone bottle, which could have held up to a litre, belonged to a girlfriend. Mr Dunne, who did not take drugs, had taken a swig out of the bottle. She found him unconscious the next morning. He was admitted to Loughlinstown Hospital where he died the following day.
Recording a jury verdict of accidental death, Dr Sheehan said that like other tragic deaths involving methadone it appeared that the deceased was a naive taker of the drug. "This is an increasing problem. Young people are taking bottles of the drug by the neck and swallowing quick swigs as a sort of personal experimentation."
Dr Sheehan said there was a substantial hazard in giving out large quantities of methadone, and its distribution and management would have to be re-examined by the medical authorities.