More than 50 overdoses have been reported in Dublin in recent days, as tests identified a second sample of heroin cut with a synthetic opioid linked to overdose deaths in Britain.
The sharp spike in heroin overdoses in Dublin city has caused significant concern for health authorities and addiction services since the trend first emerged last Thursday.
In a statement on Sunday, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said the number of reported overdoses had risen to 54.
Ambulances have been called out to eight suspected overdoses between Saturday and Sunday, the HSE said.
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“The HSE can confirm that a second sample of drugs associated with an overdose situation was identified as heroin adulterated with nitazene drugs,” it said.
Nitazene is a synthetic opioid that has been tied to fatal overdoses in Britain in the last two years, where the substances had been cut with heroin, or sold as heroin.
Laboratory tests first identified trace amounts of a nitazene-type substance in brown powder associated with a heroin overdose in Dublin on Friday.
The HSE said officials continued to “remain very concerned about a new batch of brown powder circulating in the Dublin city centre region”.
Health authorities issued an alert warning heroin users to exercise caution after a cluster of more than a dozen overdoses were flagged on Thursday morning.
The number of overdoses reported to authorities has continued to increase in recent days, as officials seek to get information to vulnerable heroin users, many of whom are homeless or rough sleepers.
“We are reminding people to be extra careful, avoid using new drugs, new batches of drugs or buying from new sources,” the HSE said.
Gardaí believe a significant drop-off in the amount of heroin coming from Afghanistan has caused dealers to source supplies of the drug elsewhere.
