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THE DEATH OF twins in Limerick from a suspected overdose has prompted a city councillor to speak out about how to tackle drugs in the city.
The twins, who were named locally today as Peter and Kevin Moran, were found dead in an apartment on Steamboat Quay in the centre of Limerick city yesterday. A post-mortem is due to be carried out on their bodies today and it is understood that foul play is not suspected.
Limerick City Councillor Michael Hourigan, who is also head of the city’s Joint Policing Committee, told TheJournal.ie that the problem of drugs in Limerick needs to be tackled.
As the chairman of the Joint Policing Committee I would be very concerned about the level of drug use in the city, especially among young people. A tragedy like this is enormous for the family.
He commended the gardaí on tackling drugs in the city and said they “have done wonderful job in relation to drugs and the main ‘drugs people’ have been put away” but that drugs still need to be tackled.
Fine Gael’s Cllr Hourigan said he believed there are a number of ways to do this.
I’m convinced myself the role of community guards must be enforced as strong as possible. They are hugely important in the city of Limerick
He said that communities begin to trust them and “they know what’s going on, especially among our teenagers in that age group”. Cllr Hourigan added that the age level is dropping for the usage of drugs, from “very early teens right up to the top teen years”.
We need to create awareness through education in schools – at national school level. We need to tackle it at a very early age, especially in national schools, the danger of using drugs.
The city councillor added that a report out this week showed that people “can be affected very seriously” and there can be “very serious brain damage from cannabis”. The report from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland found that cannabis use makes physical changes to parts of the brain when smoked by adolescents.
Cllr Hourigan added that the media is also important to “bring our message home to people”. “Young people maybe don’t read the papers but they will go on Twitter and on all the vehicles we have. We should make full use of that,” he said.
He concluded that yesterday’s deaths were “a tragic event particularly for the family, and the two young men to lose their lives at such a young age with their whole lives ahead of them.”
The findings of the post-mortems on the brothers’ bodies are expected later today.
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RIP to those two lads. Terrible situation for their family and friends. I hate seeing needless deaths from drugs happen anywhere, but especially in my home city.
Don’t see why cannabis is mentioned, would be VERY surprised if they overdosed on cannabis..still tragic, but blaming weed shows how out of touch/blind they are to the real problem of harder drugs..
Chris although I do not object to cannabis, it is on the less offensive drugs list IMO bit there has been recent studies to link cannabis use in teenagers to schizophrenia. Sadly I know one man who as a teenager used cannabis socially…same as the rest of us but for whatever reason after a year of casual smoking the makeup of his brain reacted to it differently and he has been in and out of mental hospitals and is heavily medicated. He will never be the person he was before smoking cannabis. All the rest of us moved on. Its sad but unfortunately there is a lot we don’t know about the effects drugs have on the developing brain. RIP to these two young men and condolences to their family.
No i accept that, I just think the negative effects are miniscule when compared to other drugs and I find it hard to understand why cannabis was singled out and no other drugs were mentioned
Why did you have to put in that complete and utter shite about cannabis causing serious brain damage?? Pointless and stupid
You might take a visit to the hospitals those with cannabis-induced psychosis are housed in someday. See the relatives. Or go have a chat with some health professionals from the Netherlands if you don’t believe the academic studies on brain damage.
I would have had the same opinion as you about a decade ago, but seeing it with my own eyes changed my mind.
CANNABIS IS EVIL!!! Didnt you hear??
*Rolls eyes*
sad to hear about those brothers, RIP.
Alcohol is far worse and the social consequences of it are horrific but its legal and I dont hear anyone trying to get it banned.
was there not some news a few days ago regarding research proving a definite link between cannabis and schizophrenia in teens. ??? that sounds like brain damage to me.
*Sigh
Conor, can you give us some links to this research you are talking about?
Yeah those stupid people of Harvard…maybe Conor you are the one who should do the research. It is rare that myself and wurple agree but like her I would have been of the same opinion as you ten years ago but research is now pointing to the conclusion that although many cannabis users will get away without any longterm damage some will not. These seem to be predominantly male and some have a genetic predisposition. The results cannot be ignored. It is something I would make my kids aware of, its a gamble.
Sorry, forgot to post Harvard research there is also stuff on Time magazine and loads of other places if ur interested just google cannabis link to schizophrenia in teenagers…
More lives tragically lost and the Govt and local authorities spout out the same failed policies!
The war on drug was lost years ago, and everybody knows it!
It’s sad, but Councillor Michael Hourigan seems to be oblivious to the fact the when you ‘Put away’ The main “drugs people” they are legions more willing to take over due to the huge profits involved!
Also rolling out ever increasing tougher drug laws plays right into the hands of the criminals , it makes them even more profit! It’s simple economics, inhibit supply of a product that’s in demand and the price will soar!
The UN has recently recognized that the current war of drugs has failed and that its doing more harm then good and it’s now endangering democracies and has caused wars in central America and have, They point to Portugal as having the best and must successful drug management / strategy ….will our government and city Councillors consider this? Probably not? or will they surprise us and show real concern for our young people?
What about alcohol? What does that cause? It causes a hell of a lot more physical & mental issues than cannabis does to a larger percentage of users.
This whole scizophrenia/cannabis thing while it does exist is blown wildly WILDLY out of hand. Studies are done on many many things relating to cannabis yet the scizophrenia angle is always the one wheeled out.
Just because alcohol causes a myriad of social, physical and mental health problems doesn’t negate the harms that other drugs, like cannabis, can also cause users. I know people who were heavy cannabis users who then developed schizophrenia and other mental health disorders.
I’m not saying there’s a causal link between the two – but I don’t see what the problem is with peer-reviewed medical articles being “wheeled out”.
People should be aware of the risks associated with drug use – all drug use – both legal and illegal. To say there are no negative side-effects of drugs is irresponsible at best, reckless at worst.
RIP to the two brothers.
I cant do it from my phone Chris but do a search for cannabinoids in the human brain. That will give you the information on a substance only found in 2 things, the human brain (regardless if you use cannabis or not) and the cannabis plant. Also, do other searches on the issue regarding schizophrenia and cannabis. The issues such as schizophrenia and phsycosis have been proven in other studies that the problems are already underlying issues in the users mentality before they used cannabis. That is not to say that cannabis (or the chemicals used by dealers to bulk up the product) does not bring the problem out in the person. The study that was in the article the other day was in the papers over 10years ago. Go back to that article and read the comments and you will get more information on the subject than the article could ever provide. People will always remain ignorant towards cannabis either because they havent done the relevant research on the plant ot they are just plain ignorant to the matter.
Pure pure bullshit.
Good man Conor, using this report to not only insult people that have opinions that differ from yours, but to also advance an argument for Cannabis as a safe drug.
I can tell from your approach that youve clearly spent years studying the effects on both yourself and others. Not to mention mice.
For myself, Ive been in the unfortunate position of having seen firsthand the effects of frequent usage on the mental health of more than one person and I can unequivocally state that it’s not pleasant.
As for Limerick, I think Niamh Hourican’s study for UL presented an approximate figure of 30 million euro pa, net worth of the drugs trade.
Says it all.
spoken like a true pot head.
2 words for you Declan, un-intelligent and ignorant. Didnt anybody ever tell you don’t believe everything you read in the paper!? Do you drink alcohol? Do you know that nobody ever in 10000 years of usage has ever died from cannabis?? Probably not because you’re uneducated in the matter. All you probably know on it is these government back studies you read in the papers. Do some research on cannabis before you try argue any points on it with anybody.
Do like Portugal , decriminalize drugs and watch the crime rate and the number of users, and overdoses fall,
That councillor is quick out of the blocks did he not think it should have been tackled before now ?
Chris, I could argue all day about it and give you more facts on the benefits of the cannabis plant than you could give me about the negative side of cannabis. Also, there are 2 different types of studies on Cannabis, Government funded scientific studies which always highlights the negatives which are released into press to help keep it illegal, and independent scientific studies which proves time and time again that the government funded studies are unreliable. Research some independant studies and then see which ones make more sense!!
You said it all Niamh. “predominantly male and some have a genetic disposition”. The same ones with that genetic disposition are the ones that are affected. Who’s to say this problem is caused by the natural ingredients to the plants and not by the additives put into cannabis by the criminals looking to maximise their profits? Everybody has their own opinion on the matter which is fair enough, but most of these people have not got the slightest idea as to the benefits of cannabis. Would you rather trust chemical medicine given to you by the doctor or would you rather a natural medicine with no man made chemicals?? Id go for the second one for the simple fact, chemicals kill!!
“Would you rather trust chemical medicine given to you by the doctor or would you rather a natural medicine with no man made chemicals?? Id go for the second one for the simple fact, chemicals kill!”
This comment alone makes me feel like its not worth my while arguing with you…
Plant chemicals can kill too Conor. Is heroin a plant derivative? Most mam made poisons have their base in plants of some sort. Yes I did say predominantly male but two factors could be the cause of this result, more males smoke cannabis and male brains are more susceptible to the effects. The results do not categorically point to a genetic predisposition, they include that as a factor, but there are also those who had no family members with psychosis or schizophrenia. it is in everybody interest to know that smoking as a teenager can have longterm effects, and it is a gamble. The teenage brain is still developing. I am not advocating against cannabis I am pointing out that there are risk factors that teenagers in particular should be aware of.
The poor people of limerick would need drugs to cope with listening to the politicians down there. Useless bunch of councillors and TD’s
Everybody has their own personal thoughts and beliefs which is only right but I hate people criticising cannabis when they only know the negatives. Personally, I hate alcohol abuse because Ive lost people to it, I hate people who abuse heavy drugs because Ive had friends die from it but Ive never had or will have any problems with cannabis.
John, is that all you can come up with? “Pure pure bullshit”. You can’t put up any decent arguement so all you can come up with is “pure pure bullshit”. All these tests on the phycological effects of drugs on the human mind and yet everybody fails to realise that Sigmund Froyd, the most famous man in relation to phsycology was a chronic cocaine addict yet people to this day base their studies on how brilliant of a mind he was. Lil wayne, rapper, actor, poet, ghost writer and loads more does not know how much cannabis he puts in his joints yet is in MENSA. He is in the top 2% IQ wise in America. Not bad for somebody who smokes a substance you claim gives you brain damage!!
Not enough services to treat addiction end of
Conor, with all due respect to you and your perspective, personally Im sick to death of the churlish relationship our nation has with both drugs and alcohol.
All this tedious pointing and counterpointing was rendered null and void by a personal experience a couple of years ago, the result of which was my decision to get off the fence and take up the position I hold on substance abuse-as Ive said already, I include alcohol in this.
Ive heard all the arguments, good bad and indifferent.
Apologies for misspellings; iPhone. Read ‘fibre source’ and ‘fuel source’. Hemp paper too is a far superior paper to wood pulp paper.
Cannabis, a naturally abundant fobre sourcs and a natural, pollution-free furl source, is the only competition that exists to DuPont’s synthetic fibres and chemical poisons. All today’s paper is chemically treated; by DuPont. All today’s drug corporations cannot copyright cannabis. The American Medical Association have fought DuPont’s and others battles on a cash to trash-the-hash basis. Probably the most successful propaganda effort ever. It is disturbing to see the Irish medics seeking a share of that ill gotten filth.
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