Gardaí believe new synthetic drug killed Cork teenager

Gardaí investigating the death of a boy in Cork believe he may have taken a deadly new opioid which has been implicated in dozens of deaths in the US.

Michael Cornacchia (16) was found unconscious by his mother in his bedroom at their terraced home at Deermount in Deerpark on Cork's southside on Monday morning. He was pronounced dead at the scene by a local doctor.

Gardaí found traces of a white powder at the house which was sent to the Forensic Science laboratory for analysis.

The tests confirmed the powder was a synthentic drug called U-47700, which has already been implicated in dozens of overdoses, including that of singer Prince who died after taking a cocktail of drugs last year.

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Gardaí investigating the death of Cornacchia believe he may have taken the drug in the belief it was cocaine.

The teenager's body was removed to Cork University Hospital where assistant State pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a postmortem on Tuesday. Results of toxicology tests are still awaited.

If it emerges from the tests he died from taking U-47700, it will be the first known fatality from the drug in Ireland.

Last November, the US Drug Enforcement Agency added U-47700 to its list of schedule one drugs. It has a high potential for abuse and no current medical use.

Several US states including Ohio, Florida, Georgia and Oregon have moved to ban the drug, which was first developed as a synthetic alternative to morphine.

The drug, which was developed in 1976 by chemist Jacob Szmuszkovicz for pharmaceutical giant Upjohn, was tested on animals and found to be more potent than morphine but with supposedly less addictive potential.

The drug was intended to treat severe pain associated with cancer, surgery, or injury, but was never tested on humans and never produced commercially and ended up being relegated to research.

However, the patent remained publicly available with detailed instructions on how to make the substance – leading drug labs in China and elsewhere to produce the opioid for sale.

Gardaí and HSE officials are worried there may be more U-47700 in circulation in Cork and it is expected the HSE will shortly issue a warning to all drug users about the dangers of the drug.