Heartbroken mum who lost daughter to pharmaceutical drugs launches ‘Stop the street drugs’ petition

Jasmin Duddy was 21 when she lost her battle with drug addiction in February.

The Creggan mother-of-one had been trying to get help but tragically succumbed to a lethal combination of pregabalin and bromazepam on February 2.

Jasmin’s heartbroken mother Pauline spoke to the ‘Journal’ this week.

She says more needs to be done to clamp down on drug dealers peddling street pharmaceuticals on the illegal black market in the city.

“They should be charged with murder instead of getting a slap on the wrist and getting two or three months. That's what they are doing in this town. They are killing young people.

“They are sitting lining their pockets and young people are dying,” said Pauline, who lives in the home now missing her beloved daughter Jasmin.

This week, after reports of three more potential pregabalin-related deaths in the Derry area, Pauline took the brave step of petitioning the Northern Ireland Assembly to ‘Stop the street drugs’.

The petition’s message is simple: “I want the law changed for drug dealers to be prosecuted with murder. There are young people dying every day.”

Pauline experienced every mother’s worst nightmare when police landed at her door in the early hours earlier this year.

“Jasmin had been trying to get help for her drug addiction. But, on February 2, police knocked on my door at 4am in the morning and told me she had been found deceased in a house in Galliagh. When she died, she left a two year old baby behind her,” said Pauline.

She explains how bromazepam, a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety, and pregabalin, a powerful anxiety, epilepsy and pain medication, had been found in her daughter’s system.

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"That's actually on her death certificate,” she said.

Pauline believes those involved in drug supply should face heavier consequences for the harm they inflict on their fellow citizens and that is why she launched the petition this week.

"I have always hated drugs. It's not just since my daughter died but I just hate them a lot lot more now.

"The dealers have to be stopped. This town has got awful. It is really awful. Every other day you are hearing about some other critter. I never want anybody ever to feel the way I'm feeling.

“I just want this highlighted. Every family has children growing up in this town, be it nephews, cousins, grandchildren, nieces… I'm not going to bring my wain home but someone has to make a stand.

“It is awful. That’s the reason I have started this. It is not going to bring my daughter back, but it might save somebody else’s son or daughter.”

Pauline’s intervention follows confirmation from the PHA that three people may have died locally after consuming pregabalin mixed with other substances.

To sign Pauline’s ‘Stop the Street Drugs’ petition visit: https://secure.avaaz.org/community_petitions/en/northern_ireland_assembly_stop_the_street_drugs/?frSmCtb&fbclid=IwAR1DwJ0a1xgYcJDF-4uQeg-D2yr8GRSRIzyIOZiK3NJNSUN06l6pgROClsQ

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