THE DEATH of a prisoner has prompted the authorities to issue a warning about pills which have caused a number of overdoses across the Irish prison system.
Now, prison service sources have warned that these pills, often smuggled in as innocent sleeping tablets, are deadly and being used by prisoners who have no history of using recreational drugs.
Meanwhile, the HSE has confirmed that the alert around overdoses raised over yellow pills which have caused deaths in the wider civilian community contain nitazene, the same substance suspected to be responsible for the death last week of 21-year-old Adam D’Arcy, an inmate in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison.
It is understood that in the days since Mr D’Arcy’s death, hundreds of suspected nitazene tablets have been handed over by inmates in Mountjoy over fears of the lethal substance.
The prison source who spoke to the Limerick Post said there is every reason to believe that the pills are being used in Limerick Prison, often smuggled in by well-meaning friends and relatives, despite security precautions.
“People who don’t usually use recreational drugs are taking these pills because they’re told they’ll get a good night’s sleep with them. But they take them and then overdose or die,” the source told this newspaper.
In an official statement, the Irish Prison Service (IPS) issued an urgent drug alert to all prisons following analysis conducted by the HSE National Drug Treatment Centre Laboratory, which confirmed the presence of a nitazene type substance, associated with overdoses in Irish prisons, one of which proved fatal.
“The Irish Prison Service is working closely with the HSE in response to this detection of nitazene. Prison healthcare teams have adequate stocks of naloxone should clinical intervention be required,” the IPS said.
“Extra vigilance is being taken across the prison estate and the Irish Prison Service has commenced an information campaign for prisoners around the dangers of consuming non prescribed illegal drugs.”
Prisoners, staff, and visitors can also avail of a confidential phone (1800 855 717) and text (086 180 2449) line to pass on information around the drug in confidence.
In response to a query from the Limerick Post, the HSE said that a “national red alert remains in place due to yellow tablets with nitazene-type substances sold at benzodiazepines linked to overdose clusters around Ireland”.
One death in the Mid West is already linked with the yellow pills. And while it has been reported that there have been two nitazine-linked deaths in Limerick and Cork prisons earlier this year, the HSE says that no official confirmations can be made without toxicology confirmation.
“While we may suspect that there have been a small number of deaths associated with these tablets, we are not in a position to confirm any deaths without specific post-mortem toxicology confirmation from the coroner’s service,” the HSE said.
Nitazenes (benzimidazoles) are potent synthetic opioids often as potent or stronger than fentanyl. They are sold as replacements to established controlled opioids, and can be mis-sold as or used to adulterate heroin and other opioids.
They are also used to make fake opioid and benzodiazepine medicines, which can cause serious harm, including life-threatening poisoning.
In the past few months, the European Union Drugs Agency reported an increase in the detection of benzodiazepine tablets containing nitazenes in Europe.
This rise is happening alongside a significant increase in seizures of fake oxycodone tablets containing nitazene opioids.
The latest health information is available on about.hse.ie/news/hse-risk-communication-monitoring-emerging-overdose-situation.
