Two NUI Galway students were hospitalised after taking a “bad batch” of drugs.
The alarm was raised by NUIG’s Students’ Union, who posted on twitter asking for any information on the students who were reported missing.
‘’A bad batch of drugs have been taken on campus. Two students are currently missing,’’ NUIG Students’ Union tweeted on March 7th.
When the students were found, they were brought by ambulance to the nearby University Hospital Galway. NUIG SU tweeted to thank everyone for spreading the message so quickly.
“It is now believed that all students involved in this evenings incident have been found and are safe..It appears the adverse effects were due to an overdose. Please always be aware and vigilant in relation to drug use,’’ NUIG SU said.
DCU SU Vice President for Welfare and Equality, Podge Henry, agreed with NUIG SU’s approach to warning students about the bad batch of drugs.
“Personally I think that NUIG went down the right route because you can’t turn a blind eye to drug use and at the end of the day you want to look after the student’s safety,” Henry said.
“So if there was a bad batch of drugs going around it would be wise to raise awareness but then also to raise awareness about the harmfulness about taking drugs,’’ he said.
DCUSU currently do not currently have a drug policy but do have drug testing kits that they don’t advertise to students.
“The SU don’t really have a drug policy, I do know from a mandate last year that we do sell drug test kits in the SU that we don’t advertise, but regarding policy, we don’t actually have one,” Henry said.
While the SU don’t have a drug policy, the university does have a zero-tolerance policy. Henry said this is under review.
“I think it will be the same as zero tolerance but be more overarching at how to approach someone who may have been in contact with drugs,’’ Henry said.
Adam Daly
Image Credit: Mark Carroll