There will be enormous sympathy for the family of Kieran McGrandles, who was one of two young men who died together in a south Belfast house earlier this month after suspected drug overdoses.
Mr McGrandles, who was 30, and another man, who was in his 20s, both died at a property in Elgin Street, off the Ormeau Road, close to another house where twins Claire and Stevie O'Neill, both aged 37, passed away in similar circumstances three months earlier.
Drug deaths are often associated with victims who are in their teens but it will be noted that the three people who have been named after dying at nearby addresses in south Belfast were in their 30s.
It all demonstrates that substance abuse is an enormous issue in our society which can plainly touch individuals from a range of backgrounds, areas and age categories.
The uncle of Mr McGrandles, Seamus McAlorum, deserves considerable credit for speaking out in an Irish News interview on Saturday and urging addicts to seek help urgently.
Mr McAlorum said that his nephew, who was originally from the Ardoyne district, was a person with a generous nature who loved his parents but unfortunately `took the wrong turn on the road.'
He said that Mr McGrandles had graduated to hard drugs after smoking cannabis while still at school, and despite the strong support of his family needed more outside assistance in dealing with his addiction.
The wider figures would indicate that Mr McAlorum was entirely correct in his assessment as the toll from drugs on both sides the Irish border has long since reached crisis proportions.
In the north, 212 drug related deaths were registered in 2021, only marginally down on the record figure of 218 from the previous year, with a further 174 deaths of officially listed as being down to drugs misuse.
It can only be regarded as highly alarming that the number of drugs related deaths in the region has more than doubled in the space of just over a decade, having stood at 92 in 2010.
The pattern is even more appalling in the south, where drug deaths are running at roughly two every day, double the number linked to suicide, five times the level of road traffic fatalities and twice the overall European average.
There is an overwhelming case for the authorities to allocate the resources which can help to reduce the prospect that the tragedy of Kieran McGrandles will be repeated.
