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Inquest hears 'tiniest amount of cocaine' kills 'fit and healthy' sportsman

Cardiff Coroners Court heard that the next morning Adam's step dad found the plumber lying dead in the back garden. Credit: Wales News Service

A verdict of death by abuse of drugs has been recorded for a 'fit and healthy sportman'. An inquest in Cardiff heard 26-year-old Adam Rice died of an irregular heart beat after taking 'just a few lines' of the class A drug at a friend's house.

Pathologist Anurag Joshi said the small amount of cocaine made Adam's heart 'short circuit', he had less than 0.5 milligrams of cocaine per litre of blood. He warned how even the tiniest amount of the substance can cause the heart to stop beating properly.

"Deaths have been reported with as little as 0.029 milligrams of cocaine per litre of blood. Just having cocaine in the blood can be enough to cause a cardiac arrhythmia. There's no safe level of cocaine one day it could be OK and the next it's not OK - and that's the problem with cocaine."