A young woman who was rushed to a Dublin hospital with her mother when they collapsed at home after swallowing damp cocaine died two days later in the hospital's intensive care unit, Dublin City Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Marie Fallon, (24) a mother of two, Gateway View, Ballymun, spent the evening of June 5th, 2006, drinking with her partner, David Kavanagh, and her mother, Margaret Fallon, at her mother's home in Sillogue Gardens, Ballymun.
Later that evening the three decided to take cocaine and Mr Kavanagh bought two €100 bags, which they snorted through straws.
After finishing the drug in the early hours of June 6th, Marie and her mother then swallowed some "damp" cocaine, which Mrs Fallon found at the bottom of her handbag, despite the warnings of Mr Kavanagh who said the drug was "wet and sticky" and didn't look like cocaine.
Both mother and daughter suffered seizures and were rushed to the Mater hospital by ambulance at 6.25am. Ms Fallon suffered numerous heart attacks and died of multi-organ failure due to cocaine toxicity on the evening of June 7th.
Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
Investigating officer Garda Alan Lynch of Ballymun Garda station told the inquest that three plastic bags were recovered from the scene, two of which tested positive for cocaine.
The damp cocaine was analysed but was not found to contain any contaminants such as lignocaine, which is frequently used to cut cocaine, he said.
Mr Kavanagh told the court that he and Marie went to her mother's house at about 9.30pm for drinks.
They decided to take cocaine together, as they had on other occasions. The three spent a number of hours snorting the drug through straws.
Mother and daughter then ingested two lots of "damp cocaine" which Mrs Fallon had in her possession, although Mr Kavanagh warned them not to take it.
He was awoken at 6am by loud knocking at the front door where he found Marie's brother, Stephen, who told him his mother was "taking a fit".
When Mr Kavanagh arrived at the house he found Mrs Fallon lying on the couch in the kitchen where she was "shaking and not making sense."
"Then Marie starting throwing water on her own face and said 'I feel out of it' and then started talking like her mother and she wasn't making any sense at all," he said.
Both women suffered seizures and Mr Kavanagh, who administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to them, called emergency services.
Ms Fallon was in cardiac arrest when the ambulance arrived and suffered a further three heart attacks in the Mater.
At 4am on June 7th, Ms Fallon suffered another heart attack and was pronounced dead at 7.10pm.
The coroner expressed his condolences to Ms Fallon's family.
"Street cocaine is never pure," Dr Farrell said yesterday. "Cocaine is an unpredictable drug in its effects and its toxic effects are not dose-related. I'm sorry to say this was a toxic reaction to cocaine."