Drug culture's hidden victims

PHILLIP Cloos was an honest, open, funny and caring man.

Lismore Soup Kitchen volunteers and friends of Mr Cloos, Margaret Lord and Colin Ellis, say drug overdoses in the Lismore region are not uncommon. Picture: Northern Star

PHILLIP Cloos was an honest, open, funny and caring man.

But, according to his friends, the 41-year-old Lismore father had also spent more than a decade battling drug addiction and mental health problems.

Three weeks ago he died of a suspected overdose, leaving his children and partner behind.

His death was far from uncommon for the Northern Rivers.

According to Ambulance Service of NSW data obtained by The Northern Star, there were 19 call-outs to drug overdoses and poisonings across the region by mid-May this year.

Last year, there were 36 altogether, a similar number the year before that, and in 2005 there were 57 drug overdose or poisoning cases that an ambulance attended. Not all involved illicit drugs.

One long-time friend of Phillip Cloos said the man had been dogged by drug problems for some time.

Lismore Soup Kitchen volunteer Colin Ellis, who is himself a recovered addict, said Mr Cloos had been in and out of detox for years.

“Phil went to detox a few times and dried out, but would keep using when he came back,” Mr Ellis said.

“You can't be delivered from addiction in five days. Rehab is what he needed.

“In the end he was mentally ill for years and detox doesn't help that a lot.

“You don't notice people deteriorating when they are so deteriorated in the first place, and that was the case for Phil.

“We would look at the other people dying and I asked him why he was still doing it.”

Soup Kitchen vice-president Margaret Lord remembers Mr Cloos as a dedicated father and a caring soul, and said she wasn't aware that he had experienced mental health problems.

Ms Lord, who first met him in 1994, said his death had been a shock to those who knew him.

“He was honest, open, funny and natural and caring,” she said.

However, Ms Lord said she had seen a 'definite increase' in the number of drug overdoses in the area during the past two decades.

While a heroin resurgence is being blamed for a spike in drug overdoses in Sydney, police here say they see a range of different drugs - as well as heroin - in overdose cases.

“We have also got people who do methadone and amphetamines, and we still have some issues with people taking recreational drugs,” Richmond Local Area Command Inspector Bill McKenna said.

“Your serious drug users will take anything and sometimes they mix them.”

Police are preparing a report for the coroner in relation to Mr Cloos's death and cannot confirm it was from an overdose.

Drug overdoses and poisonings in the  Northern Rivers attended by ambulance

2004 … 46
2005 … 57
2006 … 40
2007 … 38
2008 … 36
2009 … 19

TOTAL… 236

Originally published as Drug culture's hidden victims