[Article] Women injecting cocaine have had legs amputated

Victor

Bad, mkay!

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/topstories/10661782?view=Eircomnet&cat=Top%20Stories

Women injecting cocaine have had legs amputated
From ireland.comFriday, 29th June, 2007

A number of women in Dublin's north inner city have had legs amputated as a result of cocaine use, it has emerged. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.

Confirmation of the price these women paid for abusing a drug which is now used by people from all backgrounds came at a conference on cocaine use at Croke Park yesterday.

Joan Byrne, director of the Saol project, which assists women to overcome drug use, said that the cocaine problem was an overwhelming one.

"In the community where I work in the north inner city of Dublin every street and almost every house has been affected by cocaine," Ms Byrne said.

"And if it's not cocaine use it's family members involved in cocaine use, and there's families in huge debt, there are young people under severe threat, threat of life and limb, threat of death. Families are having to go out and borrow money. The whole area is absolutely swamped with cocaine," she told the conference.

"There is a huge health problem among the client group we work with, a big rise in HIV infection rates, particularly a lot of abscesses, and more recently, for the first time in the 12 years I've been working in Saol, a number of amputations have happened because of blood clots and septicaemia from cocaine use."

Ms Byrne said that most people injected cocaine in the groin, and a number of women she was aware of had lost a leg as a result. "At the moment, we have one amputee on our programme, but we have seen a number of others."

"We would know women in our project who have spent up to €3,000 or €4,000 on one weekend on a cocaine binge and are riddled with abscesses because of it," she continued.

"We constantly struggle for funding. We do not have enough staff . . . we try to manage . . . A lot of my time is spent searching for funding when it should be spent actually delivering the service."

Dr Brion Sweeney, a consultant psychiatrist working with the HSE's addiction services, told delegates that the State's response to the cocaine problem had been too slow and that the drug barons were winning the battle.

"I'd say it's seven-nil to the dealers at this stage," he said, adding that the State's attempt to tackle the problem had only "hit the crossbar a number of times".

The State had not been prepared for the problem when it arrived, Dr Sweeney said. But he emphasised that services were now gearing up to deal with cocaine use. Staff were being trained to treat addicts and cocaine clinics were being established.

However, he cautioned: "We need to move quicker."

The new Minister of State with responsibility for the national drugs strategy, Pat Carey, said that there were commitments in the programme for government to target cocaine misuse, including an increase in the number of detox beds.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Was at a party in tallaght & this 19 year old bought a whopper bag of Coke. The way he was apeing it into him was one of the most depressing things I've ever seen.

Of course it's not as bad as heroin but from what I've seen it's a much bigger problem than people who take it realise.

So Glad

Coke is ****. I've never touched it. Turns people into arrogant, aggressive, ignorant dickheads. Truly a drug that SHOULD be illegal.

Use more pot. No fights, do debt, no death, no after affects, no problem!

Zillah

That is so gross.

Oddly enough, the more horror stories I read like this, the less I care. Too much is too broken.

ctc_celtic

good, if your stupid enough to use it, then you should have your legs cut off.

Thrill

I thought only alcohol made you legless. Silly me.

Steyr

Good enough for them.

Venom

"However, he cautioned: "We need to move quicker."

That's gonna be hard for em when they aint got no legs

pickarooney

Steyr wrote:

But he emphasised that services were now gearing up to deal with cocaine use

Fighting fire with fire?

RobertFoster

Try saying Croke Coke Conference really fast 5 times.

I never knew cocaine could **** up your body with clots and abscesses and things, though it was purely a brain thing. But then, I never really gave it much thought.

MooseJam

i wouldn't inject coke unless i knew it was 100% pure, god knows what dealers use to cut it with, no way would i inject that stuff

Zillah

RobertFoster wrote:

Try saying Croke Coke Conference really fast 5 times.

I never knew cocaine could **** up your body with clots and abscesses and things, though it was purely a brain thing. But then, I never really gave it much thought.

Didn't they say they were injecting it? So the abcesses and clots are probably caused by infections from dirty needles, exaccerbated by the coke.

thebaz

most people don't inject cocaine , so don't risk amputation , but they do risk talking ****e and blowing all there money , on something that makes them drink more , without getting drunk, and then talking more ****e while they think they are making perfect intelligent sense ... oh and that they think themselves a better type of addict , in fact they wonder is coke even classified as a drug

philstar

thebaz wrote:

most people don't inject cocaine

chris in the sopranos injects it....its only since i watch that show did i realise cocaine could be injected.

BTW...Can heroin be smoked??

Zillah

philstar wrote:

BTW...Can heroin be smoked??

Google "chasing the dragon"...

HammerHeadGym

Victor wrote:

Women injecting cocaine have had legs amputated

Tough but fair. I support these radical new measures 100%

intheknow

amount of white powder on my back seat after the weekend (Taxi) and it aint dandruff either

griffdaddy

intheknow wrote:

amount of white powder on my back seat after the weekend (Taxi) and it aint dandruff either

Fúckin' nuisance bakers always leaving flour after them.

Tha Gopher

philstar wrote:

chris in the sopranos injects it....its only since i watch that show did i realise cocaine could be injected.

BTW...Can heroin be smoked??

No, he was injecting heroin. Remember when he was with Adriana, he shot some into his foot while saying this was "my good bye party with heroin" (of course it wasnt, he was strung out for months ahead)

intheknow- people spill coke over your taxi?

Its a sh1t drug , woefully dull buzz with awful mental consequences for some people I know heavy into it. Beer, weed and yokes all the way

Bottle_of_Smoke

intheknow wrote:

amount of white powder on my back seat after the weekend (Taxi) and it aint dandruff either

They do it in your taxi?

Ph3n0m

MooseJam wrote:

i wouldn't inject coke unless i knew it was 100% pure

I'm sorry....wtf!!!!!

philstar

Tha Gopher wrote:

Beer, weed and yokes all the way

what r yokes??....sorry but im not with the street lingo

Mossy Monk

Ecstasy I believe.

Anto McC

ctc_celtic wrote:

good, if your stupid enough to use it, then you should have your legs cut off.

Nail on the head!!!

Red Alert

why people would waste money on **** like that i don't know. i find since i moderated my drinking considerably i've had much more fun nights out.

Tha Gopher

MooseJam wrote:

i wouldn't inject coke unless i knew it was 100% pure, god knows what dealers use to cut it with, no way would i inject that stuff

Didnt know Pete Doherty posted here

tbh if you were to inject more than a tiny amount of pure uncut cocaine you would be in a right state. Why the fcuk would you stick needles in yourself anyway ffs.

Capt'n Midnight

Let's not forget that a lot of non-accident amputations are the result of smoking cigarettes.