POLICE and health bosses have called on drug-users to seek help to prevent Barrow from experiencing a repeat of a spate of 13 drug-related deaths.

The inquest into the death of Jonathan Dickinson is believed to be the final hearing to take place following a series of deaths in Barrow in December 2017.

A multi-agency taskforce was created; involving police, addiction services, health officials and councils, in order to identify and tackle the issues which led to Barrow’s high death rate related to drug misuse.

Initially there was a fear of a ‘bad batch’ of drugs but with many of the deaths an increasing tolerance to substances such as heroin, methadone and Benzodiazepines led to a user taking greater quantities and greater variety of drugs which ultimately caused their death.

Combining prescribed, non-prescribed and illicit drugs led in many cases to respiratory depression where an individual simply fails to regain consciousness.

In the last 12 months progress has been made with the introduction of a welfare hub at Egerton Court, improved signposting to services and agencies working more closely together.

Temporary Detective Chief Superintendent Dean Holden explained that one of the problems had been the lack of ‘tripwires’ to flag up when an individual was at risk.

“One of the things we’ve focused on in south Cumbria and specifically in Barrow is the near misses,” he said.

“We weren’t being told when people nearly died from a drug-related deaths.

“If we have a near miss there might be some work we can do to help that person and prevent them from becoming the next fatality.”

One of the other issues the taskforce has faced is how to identify those individuals at risk.

“Very often the profile of these drug-users has not been someone who is typically considered to be vulnerable,” Det Chief Supt Holden said.

“These are men, aged 25 to 40, who are making lifestyle choices and while we have done a lot of work to minimise and mitigate the risks we do need to accept that people do need to engage with the help available.”

Police also praised the community’s engagement in tackling drug use on estates like Egerton Court.

“The only people who don’t want us to do this work are the dealers; most addicts don’t want to be an addict and we’ve seen a real response in that community,” DCS Holden added.

Many of those who have died have worked with Unity, the drug and alcohol recovery service in Barrow, but stopped engaging.

One message from the authorities, and indeed even the families such as the parents of Jonathan Dickinson, is that individuals themselves need to be motivated and committed to quitting.

“My message to anyone using drugs is you are taking some real risks with your life,” DCS Holden said.

“You need to get help.”