Drugs are everywhere ..getting cocaine is like buying a bag of crisps
Dire warning from former addict who lost pal to overdose
A RECOVERING addict whose best friend died from a drug overdose fears Ireland is in the grip of a cocaine epidemic.
Kyle Carney spoke out after 24-year-old Lee Delany was found dead in Trim, Co Meath, two weeks ago.
Kyle, 34, said: “Drugs are everywhere. Getting a bag of cocaine with a pint is like getting a bag of crisps and no one bats an eyelid.
“Coke especially is an everyday thing now. I was able to hold down a job and take cocaine the second I woke up every day.
“It’s like going for a cigarette or going to the toilet.
“I think it’s pretty much so accepted now if someone told me they didn’t do cocaine or other drugs, I’d be genuinely surprised.”
Thankfully Kyle himself has been 10 months drug-free and is now planning on studying social care.
He said: “Lee finished treatment but was struggling.
“Only six months ago, he ended up in ICU after taking an overdose and we thought he’d die. He pulled through but he just had too many demons.
“Lee was such a big part of my life and the loveliest and bubbliest person.
“Before he died, he kept telling me that he was so proud of me in how well I was doing in recovery.”
“When he died, I could’ve either fallen or flown. I’d never come up against grief while clean and sober.
“I owed it to Lee to feel grief and feel his loss and not numb the pain with drink or drugs.
“I want more from life and drugs bring nothing but misery.”
Kyle started doing drugs when he was just 12 and the last 10 months have been the longest he has ever been clean in 22 years.
He said: “I had a lot of issues as a teenager. I was gay and I really struggled with that and people finding out. So substances were a way to escape – a way to take me out of my own head. I latched on to whatever I could find.”
He progressed through the drugs, eventually taking heroin.
Kyle is determined to change his life and started a Gofundme page in Lee’s honour to raise muchneeded funds for the Meath Community Drugs and Alcohol Response.
He said: “Each time I fell, they got me back up and gave me the push forward so that the fifth time I tried treatment, I succeeded.”
If someone said they didn’t do drugs I’d be genuinely surprised KYLE CARNEY CO MEATH YESTERDAY