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Government to look at drug testing kit proposals

Tuesday, 26 January 2016 12:21

The proposals would include making kits available at nightclubs and festivals.

The Government is examining proposals to introduce drug testing kits in places like nightclubs, so people can check if the drugs they're about to take contain lethal substances. 

Under the plan people could legally have illicit drugs tested in a nightclub or at a festival. 

Health Minister Leo Varadkar says the proposal is being looked at, but that preventing people from taking drugs in the first place is key to their plans.

However, experts in drug use in Cork say the availability of drug testing kits in an effort to keep people safe would not be successful as these kits simply don't work. 

The call for the introduction of the kits came after a teenager died in hospital nearly a week after taking the hallucinogenic N Bomb drug at a house party in the Greenmount area of the city.

Alex Ryan's death and subsequent warnings about the possibility of contaminated drugs in circulation around Cork led to calls for a more open approach to drug use.

However David Lane, the Manager of Addiction Services at the HSE told Cork's RedFM that drug testing kits would lull people into a false sense of security as they don't work.   

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