A 35-YEAR-OLD Bridgwater man has died after a long battle with opiate addiction.

Robert Michael Fisher, 35, died on June 22, 2023 in his bedroom at his parents’ flat in Bridgwater where he lived.

An inquest held at Somerset Coroner’s Court in Taunton on October 2, heard he had been a drug addict for 20 years and alcohol addict for the last five, and had been under the care of Somerset Drug and Alcohol Service since 2009.

Coroner Mrs Marsh read out to the courtroom that he was abstinent from heroin and had been receiving a heroin replacement medication on prescription. His family believed he was trying to cut down on his use of the medication.

The inquest also heard Mr Fisher, who was “clinically obese,” had told them of concerns about his liver and heart palpitations, and was trying to use cannabis to stop drinking alcohol.

In a witness statement, his mother said: “I told him to go to the doctor’s.”

The inquest heard he had bought three or four bottles of rum shortly before his death and bought drugs.

His mother added: “I believe he took something over the weekend as he wasn’t his normal self.” 

Mrs Marsh said: “Returning to a previous high dose of opiates when tolerance has been lost so usually the body cannot tolerate what it tolerated before will always put the user, in this case Robert, at high risk of death.”

Mrs Marsh ruled Mr Fisher’s death a “drug-related death.”

Dr Abayomi Adetola of Somerset Drug and Alcohol Service said: “We at Somerset Drug and Alcohol Service offer our sincerest condolences.”