'How many more will die?'

RESIDENTS living on the Edenmore Road say they are holding drug dealers responsible for the death of 17-year-old Ryan McIlwee.

The teen, from the Edenmore Park area, tragically died after taking suspected Mephredrone last weekend. This week a spokesperson speaking on behalf of a group of residents in the area, contacted the Sentinel saying one message was to be sent to dealers in the area: "We have had enough."

Speaking this week, the resident, too fearful to be named said: "Everyone here on the Edenmore Road is absolutely gobsmacked at the death of Ryan. The only people to blame for the death of this young person are the drug dealers in this town.

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"We don't want them, they have no support. People in Limavady need to take this awful tragedy on board and work with the PSNI to get these people off the streets, out of our area and out of this borough.

"It's in the Edenmore Road, it's in the Dungiven Road as well, it's throughout the town. How many more young people will have to die before it stops?"

Locals paid tribute to the young lad on Friday at a special vigil held in Keady Way's Community House. Ryan died in the early hours of Saturday October 23. The local community offered it's support to his family.

"Ryan was a lovely young fella who never gave any bother and all the residents on the Edenmore Road send their heartfelt sympathies to the McElwee family. We don't want this in our estates.

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The spokesperson added: "The McIlwee family are very well liked, you couldn't meet nicer people. This is an awful tragedy they have had to take on board. We are all in support of them and hope that another young life is not lost through drugs.

"But these people, the drug dealers, are using young ones to run their drugs so that their own bank balance can get bigger.

The resident said the extent of drugs within the area was so bad, stashes are being concealed in the gardens of unsuspecting locals,

including pensioners.

"Drugs are being hidden in hedges, bushes and the back of pensioners homes, that is the reality of how drugs are rife here in Limavady. The time has come to stand up to these people, get them out of this area and away from our young people and the only way we can do this is to work with the police. I hope the awful event that we have had to face here in the Edenmore Road is a message that We have had enough."

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East Londonderry MLA George Robinson expressed his sympathies to the McIlwee family and called on the communit to pass on any information possible on drugs to police.

He said: "Ryan's friends have learned a very sad and hard lesson on the dangers of using drugs and I really hope that they will avoid using them. They are only a destructive force with no positives whatever. Every drug find made is to be welcomed as it removes some drugs from the supply chain.

"The criminal scum who supply these drugs, are in my opinion, destroying other people's lives" said Ald Robinson.

"I urge anyone who has information about drug dealers and suppliers to give that to the local police and to save lives and prevent the misery that families go through when a loved one is lost to drugs and the misery of dealing with addiction.

"This cannot continue. "

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A PSNI spokesperson said it was committed, together with the community, in the fight against drugs.

"While police are committed to addressing the drugs issue in the Limavady area, a policing response alone is not enough. We have seized drugs and we have put people before the courts but equally we need parents, schools and community leaders to help us drive home the message that drugs ruin lives.

Education, enforcement and social awareness of this terrible problem will go a long way to tackling this issue. Anyone with information about the supply of drugs in the Limavady Borough should contact police."