The parents of a Looe man, who died after injecting the heroin replacement drug methadone, have called on authorities to do more to prevent the drug from being sold on the streets.
Phillip Godbolt collapsed and died on Market Street, East Looe, in the early hours of June 2 2012 after taking a cocktail of drugs and alcohol.
An inquest into his death, held on Wednesday May 22 at Truro Coroners' Court, revealed the cause of death to be the "misuse of methadone and other prescription drugs".
The 27-year-old's mother, Hillary Godbolt, told the inquest: "I think most people know where it [the methadone] came from.
"Since this happened to Phil we have been told that this same person was actually involved in it happening to someone else.
"If we know the person that had the methadone and we know it's obvious that they were the one that passed it on surely something can be done about in as far as stopping them from receiving anymore methadone?"
DS Tim Wright, from Liskeard CID, led an investigation to trace where the drug had been sourced but said there was insufficient evidence to lead to a prosecution.
Deputy coroner for Cornwall, Dr Andrew Cox, explained that addicts on treatment programmes are supplied with methadone to inject at home when chemists are closed.
Describing Mr Godbolt's death as a tragedy, he returned a verdict of accidental death.
The inquest heard that Mr Godbolt, who was a plasterer by trade and a father of two, had a history of drug abuse and mental health problems.
His parents said that in the months prior to his death he failed to receive help from mental health services when he moved to Looe from Plymouth after breaking up with his girlfriend.
Mrs Godbolt said: "We had an incident at home where he got quite stressed and agitated and we tried to get help from the mental health team in Devon for some support and they said they couldn't do anything because he had been discharged,"
"We tried to get in touch with the Cornish mental health team but they said they couldn't help because he was not registered."
Paying tribute to their son his parents said he was a popular man with many friends.
"He was a good family man," said Mrs Godbolt.
Her husband, Geoffrey Godbolt, said: "Everybody loved him. He was a great father. He was a smashing guy,"
They said they now hoped to move on with their lives.
Mr Godbolt said: "Now we can put a lid on it and try to get on with our lives but you never get over it."
Following the inquest Howard Stevens, from the Drug and Alcohol Action Team, said the number of methadone-related deaths is increasing.
"It is a national trend," he said.
"The number of methadone deaths is increasing above the number of heroin deaths across the UK.
"In Edinburgh methadone deaths have overtaken heroin deaths," he added.
Mr Stevens said that cases such as this were becoming increasingly common as more people are being put on methadone treatment programmes.
"More people are undertaking drug treatment programmes and being prescribed methadone and other medications," he said.
"Unfortunately that can get abused. We need intelligence to counter-act that and act on it."
In a statement, Plymouth Community Healthcare said: "We were saddened to hear of the death of Mr Godbolt and wish to extend our condolences to his family. There is an on-going investigation into the circumstances and Plymouth Community Healthcare will make further comment following conclusion of this investigation."
↧