AN INQUEST into the death of a young Cork man, who died after a house party earlier this year, was adjourned yesterday to facilitate criminal investigations into three people.
Alex Ryan
Alex Ryan was 18 when he passed away at Cork University Hospital on January 23, after he ingested a synthetic drug with the street name N-Bomb at a house party in St Patrick’s Terrace, Green Street, days earlier. He was one of six people who were hospitalised after taking the drug.
Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, told the Coroners Court in Cork that Mr Ryan’s brain was deprived of oxygen causing brain injury after he suffered a cardiac arrest, which was caused by ingestion of the synthetic drug 251-NBOMe also known as N-Bomb.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has directed that charges be brought against three people and Mr Ryan’s inquest was adjourned until December 8, under Section 25 of the Coroners Act 1962, to allow time for the State’s investigation.
Yesterday at the Coroners Court, Mr Ryan’s inquest was listed for mention on December 8, but the coroner, Philip Comyn, told the family that they were welcome, but not required, to attend this hearing.
The cause of Mr Ryan’s death was identified at the Coroners Court so that a death certificate could be issued to the family.
Mr Ryan’s mother, Irena, and his sister, Nicole, attended the court at Cork Circuit Court House yesterday.
Nicole has launched a drug awareness campaign to increase knowledge of the very real dangers of synthetic drugs.
Ms Ryan believes that people are unaware of the dangers of synthetic highs because they can be bought easily online from websites which appear legitimate, and because they were once available in shops in Cork.
Ms Ryan said that the death of her brother proves that they can be lethal.
Ms Ryan believes that had her brother known the potential dangers of these drugs he would not have taken them.
Stark black posters have been distributed in Cork, with the words “Legal Highs Lethal Lows” and a note from Ms Ryan about her brother’s death under
an image of a cross, cut from white powder.
She hopes that these posters, as one part of a public awareness campaign, can alert and remind people of the potentially catastrophic consequences of taking illegal drugs.
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