Coroner says two rugby players who overdosed on heroin 'did not mean to buy drug'

A coroner's report seems to suggest that two English rugby players who died of a heroin overdose were seeking brown sugar in the wee hours of the morning in Sri Lanka, but accidentally purchased a kind of heroin nicknamed "brown sugar." From The Guardian:

An inquest at Crook coroner's court heard that the two men, who were "not habitual drug users", had taken a substance known locally as "brown sugar", a cheap version of heroin.

...

The coroner, Crispin Oliver, said the men purchased the drug on the way home from the nightclub. He said: "They had no prior knowledge of this substance. They would not have known that it was heroin.

"I am satisfied that these were not drug users, I think this was a one-off occasion, it was certainly a mistake and it was certainly an accident."

Crispin added: "I hope this serves as a warning to people when they travel to far parts of the world that they have to be very careful about what they are encouraged to purchase and take."

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

[Thanks, Julian]