Junkies are snorting washing powder as a substitute for crystal meth, an anti-drugs campaigner has claimed.
Drug-users are now sorting washing powder in Donegal
Kristian Shortt witnessed the “shocking” incident where a drug-user became violently ill after inhaling the soap flakes into his lungs.
Mr Shortt was conducting an anti-drugs crusade in Donegal when he saw the man “vomiting wildly” in Letterkenny.
He told the Irish Mirror: “This will shock you as it did me. I went to a house in my neighbourhood in Letterkenny to get my house key from my house mate and when I arrived a party was taking place and a man was vomiting wildly in the front garden whilst his friends were laughing at him.
“I presumed he was drunk, but when I asked his friends what was wrong with him they told me that they had run out of meth and began snorting washing powder as a substitute and he, in particular, had a bad reaction to it.
“Now this is the kind of stuff that the public in general are hidden from and what radical behaviour a person might do when his drug of choice has run out and they’re still looking for a buzz.”
Dubbed the poor man’s cocaine, deadly crystal meth has devastated entire communities in the US and its use is on the rise here.
Mr Shortt said the true effects of this and other drugs remain hidden from the public.
Last weekend his group of campaigners distributed nearly 10,000 leaflets on the dangers of drugs throughout the county.
In one day the group covered five towns around the county, including Donegal town, Ballybofey, Letterkenny, Carndonagh and Moville as part of the ‘Truth about Drugs’ campaign.
Mr Shortt has had to live away from his native county following two attempts on his life.
Kristian is the son of Frank Shortt who was wrongfully convicted of allowing the sale of drugs in his nightclub in the 1990s.
He said he knows the danger of drugs only too well as he suffered from drug addiction himself.
He said: “Drugs were responsible for ruining my life some years back as I was an addict, but also in the history of my family with regards to my father’s wrongful imprisonment.
“Drugs were the focal point of that entire struggle.
“How can I sit idly by and watch the lives of my fellow human beings be destroyed by this pestilence that is drugs?”
Gardai are concerned that hard-up drug users are turning to meth as it can be sourced for as little as €2 price per hit.
It also has a devastating effect on the user’s health as it burns the internal organs of users.
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