The stepfather of a homeless Oxford man said his son died after "a moment of weakness".
Jason James overdosed on heroin at the Westgate Shopping Centre car park on December 10 last year.
Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict of accidental death at an inquest at County Hall on Tuesday.
Friends of 34-year-old Mr James said they believed he had stopped using drugs in the months before his death.
Speaking after the hearing, his stepfather Peter Rose said: "It is a real tragedy. I think he was making a genuine effort to turn things around. It was just a moment of weakness."
Mr James was found at about 4.45am lying in a car park stairwell by his friend, Ben French, also homeless, after injecting heroin the pair had bought together.
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