Drug taking comes second only to the spectre of paedophilia in its ability to get the public in a panic. Both evoke a murky, squalid underworld populated by depraved ghouls intent on getting their kicks.

And when illicit drugs cause a spate of sudden deaths - eight people have lost their lives over recent weeks in Northern Ireland, in apparently drug-related circumstances - the fear and loathing is cranked up still higher. Who to blame? Who to punish? Which shadowy figures can be dragged forth into the daylight and held to account?

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