Dealer who caused overdose epidemic in Cork by selling ‘highly dangerous’ drug is jailed

“He was selling drugs knowing they were highly dangerous to people. The fact that he was aware the drugs he was selling were causing drug addicts to overdose is particularly aggravating. 

“People buying drugs simply don’t know what they are buying. Those higher up in the drug chain — and in this case the street dealer — don’t give a jot for them. It was only fortunate that there was no fatality. Anyone using recreational drugs runs that risk,” Judge Quinn said.

The particular batch of nitazene being sold by Josh McGuinness as heroin resulted in a national campaign by the Health Service Executive warning about the extreme danger posed by taking this drug.

Detective Garda Derry O’Brien said the accused admitted he did know when gardaí in Cork questioned him about whether he knew that the drugs he was selling in Cork caused 17 overdoses in little more than a week in the city.

“He said he was aware they were causing the overdoses. When asked why he continued to sell the drug knowing it was causing these overdoses, Josh McGuinness replied: ‘They just kept ringing’,” Det Garda O’Brien said.

Judge Quinn took this to mean the drug users were asking for what they believed was heroin and they were supplied with this extremely potent synthetic drug that was causing overdoes.

Det. Garda O’Brien said, “We asked how many deals from that batch had he sold in Cork. He believed 80 deals he sold in the city in the space of a week.

“In the space of 10 days, the drugs caused 17 overdoses. People would have been buying them thinking they were diamorphine/heroin. But that was not what it was. It was a synthetic opioid.

“All of those who had overdoses made a full recovery.

He admitted he had initially been dealing these drugs in Dublin. But due to the heat he was receiving in Dublin he was sent to Cork. Overdoses were causing huge heat in Dublin. This sparked the national safety campaign.

30-year-old Josh McGuinness, of no fixed address, previously of Harmonstown Road, Raheny, Dublin, and originally from Coolock, pleaded guilty to being in possession of diamorphine (heroin) and crack cocaine for his own use and having both drugs for the purpose of selling or otherwise supplying to others.

Several Garda units were on the streets of Cork trying to locate the particular batch of drugs at the time. Josh McGuinness was arrested on December 12, 2023, and he said he had a severe crack cocaine addiction that extended to consuming 15 to 20 deals of the drug per day at a daily cost of €600.

The detective said when the accused was stopped and searched, he was found in possession of heroin valued at €2,000 and cocaine worth €1,000 and the drugs were broken down into deal-sized bags, ready for sale and distribution in Cork city centre.

Mahon Corkery, defence barrister, said the accused found himself at the bottom of a chain in terms of drugs and was to an extent acting out of fear and duress.

“One wonders how much agency he enjoyed. He was operating at a high level of chemical compulsion which I submit would reduce his moral culpability,” Mr Corkery submitted.