Well said Ruth. Everyone here is so quick to judge, when they have no idea what drove those people to heroin. Many people that get caught up in addictions like that have serious underlying issues, perhaps from childhood etc, that they don’t know ho to deal with. Fair enough, they took a gamble and they lost, but the lack of compassion here is mind boggling. I hope all the people, who don’t care what happened to these two people, never have to deal with the problem of a family member being addicted in the future.

You do realise that 2 people are dead and that 2 families are grieving their loss?

Yes Tomy two people are dead,

Two people that knowingly took illegal substances with who knows whats it them, these people know the stuff is illegal and they know they don’t know whats it the stuff they take.

Drugs are the scourge on our society so forgive me if I don’t have much pity for the people that died, its hard for their family’s alright but the people that took the stuff know its not 100% safe at anytime when they use it.

I’ll feel sorry for the family sure but not for the drug takers,

Tomy I see your pointless comments alot on this..your another ambulance chaser. They took that heroin knowing it could kill them. Poor families yes poor junkies NO

That’s what happens when you play with fire Tony.

Call me cold hearted and give me the thumbs down, but I’ve no sympathy and dont care.

Tomy I see your pointless comments on this alot…. Your another ambulance chaser. They took that “heroin” knowing it could end their lives. Poor families yes poor junkies NO

“Knowingly” – yes, because addicts of any kind are equipped to make that decision.

People knowingly smoke and drink every day too – do they deserve to be viewed with such contempt?

“Drugs are the scourge on our society”? That may be so but directing your derision at 2 dead addicts is misplaced when you should really be looking at the organised crime that supplies it and the fact that the supply end of the drugs trade causes a lot (and probably more) pain to our society than end users.

Do you think that people make decisions to become addicts? Becoming emaciated, malnourished, risking hepatitis, risking hiv & aids, collapsed veins, cysts – all that is a conscious choice is it? Surely you can see that people don’t think that that is an attractive life and there are things that lead them down that road? People are often driven to addictions – not chose them.

Tomy,

People that smoke and drink know the risks starting off sure continued use can be very bad, but atleast they know the substances are legal for sale and they know whats in them.

Heroin is illegal in the Irish state and pretty much every other country in the world, its far far worse and again the people using it don’t know whats in it at ANY stage. They know the stuff is dangerous from the very very first time they take it.

So at the very start these people made an informed decision to take a very dangerous illegal drug knowing that there’s pretty much a 99.9% chance they’ll get hooked and will continue to take the stuff (the same can’t be said for drink).

The people that also sell these substances don’t give a crap about anyone’s health or well being, its just all about the money.

So don’t tell me these people don’t know the risks when we know they do,

Bottom line: you’re turning a complex issue into a simple one and it’s not as simple as you are presenting. I’d like to draw a parallel to another issue only I think that would likely be construed as not related. In addition, people are so determined to say how wrong these addicts were and “tough luck” to them while also saying they are sorry for their families – do you think that pointing out your belief that these 2 deserve no sympathy sits well beside offering your sympathy to the families?

I don’t understand why, in the instance of having no sympathy for the people themselves that you can’t just say that you offer sympathies to the families and leave it at that?

No demand no supply? what a simple black and white world you live in. I truly hope you never get to find out what addiction actually means.

whiskyste. what kind of a cold useless person are you?!! Your comments lack any sort of compassion. Do you really think these poor unfortunate souls woke up one day and decided to become a herion addict?! Ignorance is bliss. get a grip!

@ Jay: Actually yes,they made a choice.They didn’t accidently fall on a syringe,or fall on that tin foil pipe.It was a choice.Also if you happen to see one of these “poor souls” as you put it,dragging a pensioner down the street in a bag snatch,or that person that has to wait 6 months for blood test results,because one of these “poor souls,stabbed them with a syringe while robbing them.

You cant brand every addict to be a bag snatcher or syringe attackers! I work with a big grouping of addicts that have never resorted to this level of crime. Plenty of non addicts out there robbing. beating. killing! a little bit of sympathy goes a long way. There is no bigger Victim than the addict themselves.

@ Ru Ni Digs

This “tinfoil pipe” you talk about is actually called a “tooter”.

And I don’t know who said that there was a 99.9% chance of becoming addicted but I’d love to see where those statistics came from. I once read that 23% of people that try heroin become addicted and I’d say that’s a lot closer to the truth.

“I work with a big grouping of addicts that have never resorted to this level of crime.”

How do you know,and what do you mean by “have never resorted to this level of crime” ???

Its unfair to brand each drug addict as a thief or a participant of crime. There is plenty of functioning addicts out there. My point is it affects people in different ways and its not fair to brand a group on the actions of some… such as your comment suggests. Be grateful you dont have to walk in there shoes.

Abby is right, the figure is between 23 and 25% . For alcohol it’s about 20 and cigarettes it’s closer to 45%.

Most of the health and societal problems associated with opiate addiction are caused by prohibition.

Legalise Heroin and the problems solved, really. And can you give any example of where in the civilised world that’s been the case…..

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

http://www.drugfree.org.au/fileadmin/library/Policies__Legislation_and_law/ThePortugueseDrugFallacyReport.pdf