Cocaine warning after Hardy Bucks actor died from a heart attack at stag party

Sunday World

25-04-2025

Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald, the coroner for Co Mayo, said society should be more aware of the risk of cocaine use in young men, saying these 'are our sons and partners'.
A coroner has warned of the tragic consequences of taking cocaine following the death of a young actor who died of a heart attack while attending a friend's stag party.
Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald, the coroner for Co Mayo, said society should be more aware of the risk of cocaine use in young men, saying these 'are our sons and partners'.
The inquest into the death of Alan 'Ali' Carter (37) of Market Street, Swinford, Co Mayo, who played the character DJ Scorpio Lyons on the RTÉ comedy series Hardy Bucks, heard the popular young man took cocaine, alcohol and the drug DMT in the hours prior to his death.
The hugely popular mockumentary comedy series Hardy Bucks followed the fictional exploits of a group of young men living in small-town Ireland during the early 2000s.
It ran for four seasons and also yielded a feature film.
Mr Carter collapsed in front of three friends he had been socialising with at an AirBnB on the Castlebar Road in Westport town following a night out on August 26, 2024.
The inquest heard Mr Carter received immediate CPR and advanced life saving treatment from an off-duty emergency medicine consultant within a short period of his collapse but he was beyond the point of resuscitation.
Mr Carter's partner, Lorraine Carney, tearfully told Dr Fitzgerald of identifying his body in the hours after his death.
Garda Ciara Sheehan of Westport Garda Station told Dr Fitzgerald that she and a colleague were on patrol in Westport when they were alerted to a sudden death in the town.
On attendance at the scene, Dr Jason Horan told Gda Sheehan he received a call from the National Emergency Operation Centre to attend a man in cardiac arrest at 5.45am and proceeded immediately.
After extensive resuscitation efforts, Mr Carter was pronounced dead by Dr Horan at 6.22am.
Garda Sheehan said she became aware that the deceased in the minutes before his collapse smoked a drug called dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is a hallucinogenic, and suffered a seizure from which progressed to a full cardiac and respiratory arrest within ten minutes.
The inquest also heard Mr Carter had consumed cocaine throughout his time at the AirBnB following a day of drinking in Westport town.
CCTV and witness statements of those in attendance established Mr Carter and another man left the AirBnB for a period during the night and Mr Carter returned with the DMT drug.
The man who left with him stated they had only gone to an apartment to pick up speakers and cigarettes.
Another witness said Mr Carter produced the powder and a glass pipe, consumed it and quickly fell into a state of intoxication and collapse.
Two friends administered CPR while the other rang for an ambulance.
Consultant pathologist at Mayo University Hospital Mr Tamas Nemeth, who carried out a post-mortem examination, gave the cause of death as acute heart failure due to a heart attack caused by cocaine.
While Mr Nemeth said cocaine triggered the heart attack, Mr Carter was suffering from advanced coronary heart disease with up to 80pc stenosis and both issues led to his death.
Mr Nemeth did not believe the DMT influenced Mr Carter's death.
Court presenter Sergeant Noel Crinnigan told Dr Fitzgerald he had consulted with the Mayo Drugs Unit of An Garda Síochána and the members he spoke to had never come across DMT in the county previously.
The deceased's partner, Lorraine Carney, told Dr Fitzgerald Mr Carter had been born with a heart condition but this was resolved by surgery when he was a young child.
However, in recent years he had suffered from high blood pressure and sleep apnoea, was overweight and had a poor diet.
Returning a verdict of misadventure, coroner Dr Fitzgerald offered her sympathies on the tragic death of Mr Carter.
'It is such a pity and such a tragedy for a young person to have their life ended in such a manner,' she said.
Dr Fitzgerald said the normality at which cocaine is consumed among young people is a huge concern and warned it poses 'the risk of sudden death in certain people'.
'That risk is not recognised and not understood. The dangers of taking alcohol and drugs cannot be overestimated,' she said.
Sgt Crinnigan concurred with Dr Fitzgerald and said consumers of cocaine never know what substances it can be cut with or its purity, which is a further risk to public health.
'You don't know what you are getting,' he said.
'On behalf of An Garda Síochána I want to extend our condolences to Lorraine and the Carter family.'