Coroner warns of dangers of ecstasy after Kinsale deaths

A coroner has warned of the dangers of taking ecstasy after hearing evidence of how two friends died as a result of taking a lethal concoction of the synthetic drug mixed with a variant known on the streets as “Death”.

Coroner for West Cork, Frank O'Connell described the deaths of friends, Liam Coffey (22) and Michael Coleman (22) at their rented house at Mandeville Terrace on Abbey Lane in Kinsale, Co Cork on September 9th 2012 as "a terrible tragedy".

Today an inquest into the deaths of the two young men from Co Waterford heard that both young men died as a result of the ingestion of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, and PMMA , a variant of ecstasy.

“These young men were innocents who did not know what they were doing or did not know the risk that they were taking .... these are deadly poisons which should not be meddled with,” said Mr O’Connell at the inquest held in Bandon.

Mr O’Connell said that those who had supplied the drugs to thetwo men were probably equally ignorant of the fact that it was such a lethal concoction but someone back along the supply chain had created what was “a deadly poison”.

There was “a certain culture out there” particularly in Third Level institutions that drug taking was safe but people should realise that was not the case, said Mr O’Connell who recalled he first encountered the lethal effects of ecstasy at an inquest in 1996.

Earlier the inquest had heard evidence from Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster that toxicology tests found that both young men contained levels of both MDMA and PMMA which were both within the fatal range.

PMMA is particularly dangerous in that it is slower acting than MDMA, leading users to think that it was having no effect so they take more.

Dr Bolster instanced the effect of the concoction on body temperature revealing Mr Coleman’s was 39.3 degrees C and Mr Coffey’s body temperature was 38.4 degrees C several hours after death compared to normal body temperature of 37 degrees C.

“Every reaction to these drugs is individual - it’s not dependant on the quantity one takes - no one knows how the drug is going to affect you, it’s entirely individual and there is no simply no safe level with these drugs,” she said.

Earlier the inquest heard from Mr Coleman's girlfriend Ciara Drummey who told how they had been drinking and watching DVDs when she saw both men put some papers to their mouth and she heard them talking about taking 'Mandy'- a street name for ecstasy.

She was feeling tired and had gone to bed but she came downstairs in the middle of the night to discover both men out cold in the living area and she raised the alarm contacting the emergency services.

A local GP, Dr Caroline Ward pronounced both men dead at 7am and Det Garda Jason Wallace told how the deaths led to the HSE issuing a warning and gardaí were able to remove a batch of the MDMA/PMMA concoction from the streets.

Det Garda Wallace said gardai were satisfied that both young men thought they were taking simply Mandy or MDMA and didn’t realise it contained PMMA while he believed those who supplied with 3gms of the drug also thought it was just MDMA.

After returning verdicts of death by misadventure, Mr O'Connell extended his sincere sympathies to the families of both deceased while Supt Eddie Mac Eoin expressed condolences on behalf of An Garda Síochana.

Afterwards, Mr Coleman’s father, Kevin urged people to heed Mr O’Connell’s warning and stay away from drugs “because they can kill you” while Mr Coffey’s father, Richard described those who deal or contaminate drugs as “thugs”.