A Coroner and devastated family have issued an emotional plea to stop the ‘epidemic’ number of young people in Hyndburn dying from cocaine abuse.

Coroner Michael Singleton was speaking out at the inquest of Adam Cowell, 33, from Oswaldtwistle, who died after taking a fatal amount of the drug.

He told the inquest: “I am becoming increasingly concerned with the number of young people who are dying from cocaine toxicity.

“I have been doing this job for 23 years. This is a recent phenomenon. This relates largely to Accrington but to a lesser extent Blackburn.

“I can tell you from the inquests that I have recently conducted, and those that are going to be conducted by me within the next few weeks, that this is reaching epidemic proportions.

“All of these young people, boys and girls, had everything to live for, were not people you would classically describe as drug addicts but with good supportive family, a network of friends and in employment. They are dying.

“If they had all died together at the same time in the same place, this wouldn’t just be national news but international news. There would be statements in the House of Commons and members of the Royal Family consoling families in their grief.

“Lancashire Constabulary would have mounted their biggest criminal investigation in the last decade in order to identify those young [dealers] who have no visible means of support.

“Those who drive round in really flash motor cars, the middle men that supply them and ultimately the people that import this.

“My great fear is that there are other parents who will go through what you have gone through because people continue to peddle this filth.”

Speaking after the inquest, Adam’s mum Andrea Adamson said the coroner was ‘absolutely spot on’.

She told the Observer: “I know Adam would not want us to be suffering like this but he was suffering himself.

“He was very gentle. He was 6ft 7ins tall but he wouldn’t have harmed a fly. He idolised his two sisters. Adam had anxiety and depression. He was desperate for help but didn’t get it.

“The police need to get their act together and get it off the streets.

“I feel like going into schools and telling the children what could happen. Don’t do it. Once might be too many times.”

Adam Cowell, 33, from Oswaldtwistle, who died on November 29, 2016.

Painter and decorator Adam Cowell died after taking a ‘fatal’ amount of cocaine, an inquest heard.

The 33-year-old was ‘laughing and joking’ with his father and brother at their home on Holly Street in Oswaldtwistle when he suddenly collapsed to the floor and started seizing.

Blackburn Coroners Court heard paramedics were called after 4pm on November 29 last year and he was taken to Blackburn Hospital but died shortly after he was admitted.

The inquest heard how Adam had taken a ‘fatal’ amount of cocaine in the hours leading up to his death and a post-mortem examination found he died of cocaine toxicity.

His father Anthony Cowell told the hearing that he was watching television when they heard a ‘thud’ from upstairs.

He said: “We had been together all day and I had to nip out to see my GP. I was only out of the house for 45 minutes to an hour.

“When I got back he was fine.

“He was just his normal chirpy self. We were laughing and joking and clowning about like we always do.

“I heard a thud and his brother went upstairs and he said something was wrong.

“He didn’t start having a fit straight away. He just didn’t look right and wasn’t breathing right.

“I turned him on his side to give him first aid. Then he started fitting. He must have fitted about 13 or 14 times. I knew it was serious.”

The inquest heard how Adam has been prescribed medication for psychosis and occasionally used cocaine and drank ‘alcohol to excess’.

Mr Cowell said: “It was only for a brief spell [that he took the medication].

“It did help him quite a lot but he slept a lot of the time through his medication.

“I don’t know if he used to binge on it [cocaine]. I never caught him and I said if I did ever catch him there would be trouble because I am dead against anything like that.

“He told me he was suffering with anxiety and it helped with his anxiety.”

Pathologist Dr Richard Prescott said there was a ‘very high level’ of cocaine in his blood.

He said: “There were some metabolites of cocaine as well so it may have been a higher level at the exact time of death.”

Coroner Michael Singleton recorded a conclusion of drug-related death.

He said: “It’s clear to me that on November 29, 2016, while at his home address, Adam Cowell ingested a fatal quantity of cocaine.”