Cocaine is back in the headlines this week after three party revellers in Waterford fell into a coma, apparently after snorting the drug. Meanwhile the model Katy French has also revealed her use of the drug, confirming the prevalence of cocaine as the illegal stimulant of choice in middle-class Irish society.

The incident in Waterford took place at a 21st birthday party, following which a total of 15 people were rushed to hospital. The initial media reports stated that an “unknown white powder” was found at the scene in Ballybeg Square, Waterford, on November 25. One of the victims revived soon afterwards, and seems to have recovered from the trauma – but, as Hot Press went to press, two of the young men were still lying unconscious.
One of the worst affected was 23-year-old John Grey, an older brother of the man celebrating his 21st birthday. His mother told The Daily Irish Mail that drug dealers had “taken over” their home area of Ballbeg. “Drugs run this town. I don’t condone the use of drugs. John used them and he paid the consequences. But he doesn’t deserve to be in a coma,” she said.
Initially, it was widely speculated that the substance was cocaine mixed with the hallucinogen ketamine, better known as a horse tranquilliser. However, that theory was dismissed by Superintendent Dave Sheehan of Waterford, during a radio interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland. He insisted that no toxin of the type suggested was present in the drug.
Also speaking on the day the news broke, Superintendent Barry O’Brien pointed out that the tragic episode was not the first time that people became ill after taking what they believed to be cocaine.
Speaking to hotpress, Sergeant Jim Molloy of the Garda Press Office stated: “All we can say at this stage is that the substance did not contain anything poisonous or toxic. As there is a person still in custody we cannot discuss the case further.”

STEPPED ON A FEW TIMES
So what exactly was the substance being snorted at that party in Waterford?
On the Monday afternoon immediately following the overdose, the Garda Press Office said that “they didn’t know what type of drug it was”. However, a report earlier that morning on the breakingnews.ie website stated: “Gardaí said this morning that tests had found no toxic substance in a white powder recovered from the house, but they have not disclosed what exactly was in the powder.”
A report on RTÉ later that day said that the Gardaí have confirmed that the “cocaine found” did not contain any other substance. So, if it was “clean” cocaine why did so many people fall ill from it? One very plausible theory is that the revelers were used to using a lower grade of cocaine, which would normally be mixed with the likes of talcum powder. Could the tragic accident simply be case of snorting too much of the high quality coke – resulting in an overdose?
“Obviously we’ll see what the lab report says – but that seems to be a very likely scenario,” one drug insider told Hot Press. “I have come across very high grade cocaine recently in Limerick that’s far stronger than the normal ‘cocaine’ you get here. The problem is that people are used to buying coke that has been stepped on a few times – so that they have to use a lot of it to get a real cocaine buzz. But this stuff was very clean. I’d imagine they hoovered up a lot of that, as they’d do with normal strength coke – and it was too much for their systems.”

MESSED UP HER HEAD
This explanation seems to be backed-up by Superintendent Sheehan when he told Morning Ireland that it was possible that the two men had taken an overdose. The Garda National Drugs Unit also pointed out that there is no quality control when it comes to drugs and that users do not know what the ingredients are in the drugs. In other words, nobody can tell the true strength of something they are inhaling into their body.
A 25-year-old man was arrested at the party and held for questioning. At the time of going to print, he was still in custody at Tramore Garda Station. He can be held for up to seven days.
Coincidentally, as the events unfolded in Waterford, Katy French was also hitting the headlines (again) about her own cocaine ‘binge’. As astute readers of this magazine will recall, the top Irish model had stated in last month’s Hot Press Interview that she had never taken cocaine. In fact, she described doing so as “vulgar”! But last Sunday she told the Star On Sunday that she was a cocaine user. She told the paper: “Cocaine messed my head up and it’s something that I never wanted to go back to. I first tried it when I was 19 and I soon realised it was very much part of the Dublin social scene.” It would be wrong to say that we were even a little bit surprised.