A Europe-wide anti-drugs organisation has warned holiday- makers against purchasing illegal drugs, following the death of an Irish tourist in Ibiza this week.
Finbarr Kelly (27) from Avondale, Co Sligo, is understood to have died after taking liquid ecstasy in a nightclub in the resort of Playa d'en Bosa in the early hours of Monday.
Mr Kelly was taken to hospital along with a number of other tourists at the club who are believed to have become ill after taking the illegal drug on Sunday night and early Monday morning.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has been in contact with his family and will be providing them with consultatory assistance.
Liquid ecstasy is a colourless, odourless substance which is generally consumed dissolved in alcohol. It has been reported Mr Kelly was given a "contaminated" batch of the drug, but Gráinne Kenny of Europe Against Drugs said the term is misleading.
"There has been a lot of talk about contaminated ecstasy, here and abroad, but there is no such thing as safe ecstasy, even pure ecstasy can kill you." Mixing the ecstasy with alcohol "multiplies" the effects of the drug. Using ecstasy in a hot country was particularly dangerous, she added.
"There are numerous ways this drug can kill you and heatstroke is one of them. It's an awful way to go. Your heart speeds up so fast it can literally explode. You can also suffer liver failure."
Users also risked death by drinking too much water to cool themselves down, she said.
"If you drink too much water it helps the drug to travel to your brain. Your brain swells like a sponge and you die."
