“They’ve ruined my life. They’ve ruined every relationship I’ve ever had” – Belfast man talks to @StephenNolan about his struggles with fake Xanax addiction #BBCNolan

An escalating crisis. 

That's how the Coroner for Northern Ireland is describing the number of deaths linked to misuse of counterfeit versions of the drug, Xanax. 

Joe McCrisken says he is signing off an alprazolam-related death nearly once a week. 

He says "most of the deaths" are caused by fake versions of Xanax, the brand name for the drug alprazolam.

Joining Stephen was Kieran McGrandless, who's battled serious drug addiction

And the North Belfast youth worker Paul McCusker, who's also an SDLP councillor.

OR listen to the programme in full here 📻https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000297y