Opinion

Families of Jamie Burns and Darren McCann left devastated

A spate of sudden and unexplained deaths within a matter of days, as well as grim evidence heard by coroners during the same period, has again placed a firm spotlight on the threat presented by both illegal and prescription drugs.

Police investigations into the latest fatalities are progressing, and final conclusions have yet to be reached, but there have been clear indications that at least two cases have a probable drugs connection and others elsewhere may yet fall into the same category.

There was sadly no room for doubt about the outcome of the inquests in Belfast involving 23-year-old Jamie Burns yesterday and 25-year-old Darren McCann last Thursday.

Mr Burns died after taking ecstasy at a club in the students’ union at Queen’s University in November last year while Mr McCann was the victim of an overdose caused by a lethal cocktail including cocaine after going out with friends just weeks earlier.

The father of Mr Burns has since shown great courage by campaigning with young people to drive home his message that `one pill can kill’.

William Burns has accepted invitations to visit families and go into schools before spelling out the potentially devastating impact of even a single episode of substance abuse.

He said that teenagers initially do not always listen when he urges them to avoid drugs but their attitude changes when he produces a packet containing the ashes of his late son.

Mr Burns said that he felt obliged to explain exactly how it felt to see the young man he described as his best friend lying on a cold metal hospital trolley with his eyes taped shut.

The parents of Mr McCann also spoke in deeply moving terms last week about the trauma of dealing with an addiction in their family which ended in another tragedy despite all the help provided by health professionals.

Both sets of relatives said poignantly that the loss of a loved one in such circumstances meant that their own lives could never be the same again.

It is essential that all those who are convicted of selling drugs to vulnerable individuals are given realistic sentences by the courts.

However, it is even more important that young people are fully aware of the appalling risks they face by taking the wrong decision in the course of a night out.

No one else deserves to endure the grief suffered by the families of Jamie Burns, Darren McCann and many other victims across our community.