The unpredictable effects of cocaine on the body brought about the death of a 22-year-old Cork man earlier this year, an inquest heard yesterday.
Cork city coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said a very small quantity of cocaine can cause fatal seizures in one person, while alternately a large quantity can be tolerated by another person.
"It depends on the individual users and that's the inherent danger of the use of cocaine." she said. Dr Cullinane was speaking at the close of the inquest into the death of Robert McKenzie from Alderbrook, Togher, Cork, at the Northgate apartments in Cork city on April 25th of this year.
The inquest heard evidence that Mr McKenzie had been staying at the apartment with two friends. He had been sitting on the sofa watching television that afternoon and seemed fine until he became agitated and started to develop a fit.
A number of his friends gave evidence that they knew he was using cocaine but that they had not seem him use it that day. They called his father who arrived within 15 minutes, called for an ambulance and started trying to give his son mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was pronounced dead at the Mercy Hospital at 5.29pm.
Garda Maurice O'Connor told the inquest that he searched the apartment where he found extensive evidence of drug use including white powder on the kitchen counter top, weighing scales and two bags containing white powder he believed to be cocaine in the bedrooms.
He said he also found two "ticklists" which he explained were lists used for keeping a record of drug sales with amounts owed recorded beside initials.
The cause of death was found to be ingestion of cocaine and Dr Cullinane recorded a verdict of death due to misadventure.
