'Addict had tried to beat heroin'
A MAN who died after he overdosed on heroin in Carnlough had been trying desperately to avoid drugs, an inquest has heard.
The coroner’s court sitting in Ballymena on Tuesday heard that 32-year-old Raymond Davidson was found dead at his Bay Road flat on June 17 last year. Medical evidence suggested he had most likely died from “morphine toxicity combined with codeine, mirtazapine and diazepam”.
The coroner, Brian Sherrard, commented that it is “not unusual” for a recovering addict to take a level of drugs previously used with fatal consequences
Mr Sherrard adjourned the hearing because the man who discovered the body was not there to give evidence. The coroner is to announce his finding when the hearing resumes, on a date to be arranged.
Mr Davidson’s mother, Heather, told the inquest that he had been making good progress with a drug replacement programme and had been a regular church-goer in Carnlough, having moved to the village from Ballymena a year before his death.
She said she first suspected that her son had been taking heroin in 2001. Doctor's notes later revealed that Mr Davidson had first taken the lethal drug in 1998.
"He tried his best to get off heroin," she told the court. "Raymond was on a methadone programme and he was doing very well. The programme was nearly finished, and then he relapsed."
Mrs Davidson, who was told of her son's death while on holiday, said she noticed that he had been acting differently when she last saw him alive.
“He was agitated and paranoid. You knew with Raymond – his attitude – he couldn't sit at peace,” she said.
Mr Davidson’s stepmother, who is also called Heather, said she had been forced to act as a chaperone as “he didn't want to meet the people who sold him the drugs”.
“If these people had left him alone, then he would be here today,” she said. “He had even warned my two boys against drugs and not to be dabbling and going down the road he did.”
Mr Sherrard was told that Mr Davidson, who was single and unemployed, suffered from depression and had previously attempted to take his own life, but family members said he had not been suicidal at the time of his death.
“He was in quite good form, but he was able to hide things. He was talking about his plans to go away with the flute band. That (suicide] would have been against everything he believed in,” his mother said.
A police officer told the court that a needle was found below the body of Mr Davidson, who was lying face-down on the floor beside the sofa.
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Weather for Larne
Thursday 09 February 2012
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