A former Tipperary hurler is urging the younger generation to think twice about taking heart stimulants like cocaine and energy drinks.
John Leahy, who is now Drug Education Officer for the HSE, says that with drug use comes suicidal ideation and cardiac issues.
He told Tipp Today that early intervention is one way of combatting drug addiction in younger people.
John added that he believes the lasting effects of heart stimulants in the younger generation will start to manifest in time.
“Stimulating the heart too high, and you’re putting your heart under huge stress when you take the likes of cocaine or a stimulant drink. Now if you go training on that, what’s it doing to your heart? If you have a healthy heart, that’s fine, you know, to recover.
“But I do believe in time to come we will see people presenting with heart issues at an earlier time in their lives because of their cocaine use through their 20s. I believe that will happen, but we haven’t that research yet. It’s early days.”
