My friend's son died from taking an ecstasy tablet recently

[anamcara44]

Hi everyone
My friend's son tragically died on 27 May from taking an ecstasy tablet. He was only 23. His death has been reported on the front page of the Liverpool Echo online, but this is a nationwide issue. She is trying to get the message out there to all young people about the dangers of ecstasy. There are many tablets circulating at the moment which are also adulterated or contain a chemical called PMA which has led to 100 fatalities across the UK.
I would just like to ask all Mums to warn their teenagers about this lethal drug. I am sending this message because I don't want any other Mum to go what Hilary and her family are going through. As you can imagine she is absolutely devastated.
Thank you for reading this and please pass this message on to your family and friends.

So very very sad to read this. I read an article this morning in the independent about someone who died after taking the PMA pills - I hope they find the bastards, making/distributing them!! Kids believe ecstasy to be safe, just shows in an unregulated, illegal market they could be sold anything. very very sad, thoughts are with your friend and all credit to her for getting the message out.

Thank you very much greeneyed. I will pass your message on to Hilary.x

how awful :(

I remember Leah Betts' death from ecstasy, which happened when I was a teenager and it scared me from ever trying drugs like that.

so however painful it is for her right now, she is doing a good thing by getting a message out there. it can and does stop young people taking drugs

It's very sad and I send your friend my sympathy.

However, ecstasy is not actually a very dangerous drug, given the vast numbers of people who take it regularly.

No ecstasy is not a dangerous drug. But there is a lot of shit that is sold as ecstacy that is dangerous.

Leah Betts died from drinking far, far too much water. Not from taking ecstasy

Aargh - pressed post too soon. Meant to say how very sorry I am for your friend's loss. My heart goes out to the family :(

So sorry to hear it.

I really wish we had the places like they do in Holland where you can take drugs to be tested before you use them - I also wish we used a more logical system of determining risk before banning them and driving drugs underground.

So very sorry. I too remember Leah Betts.

but if she hadn't taken the ecstasy she wouldn't have drunk the water.

Well yes, but she did take the ecstasy and, even though it's illegal, people still take drugs.

If Leah Bettts had been better informed, she wouldn't have drunk so much water and she wouldn't be dead. As OddBoots says, if we had a system here that acknowledged that young people are likely to dabble in drugs and protected them as much as possible by providing unbiased information and testing, we would have far fewer deaths.

Very sad. Such a waste of a young life and a life sentence for the family. My friend's son has just started taking so called recreational drugs and she is out of her mind with worry. I may forward this thread to her to show him so he understands a little better the risks he is facing. My condolences to the family.

I read that article. So sad.

It really should be reported nationwide though. I was only saying the other day that I remember Leah Betts dying, it was all over the news for ages - but since then, deaths from illegal drugs are just not publicised much.

Love to the family.

Horrible tragedy - the people creating this adulterated crap should be put away for a long time. Better education ad awareness is needed.

I remember when I was a teacher around 15 years ago we had a drugs awareness lecture from local authority experts. Their view was that Ecstasy is a pretty harmless drug as long as it's pure. They also went on to say that Leah Betts died because she'd been told that if you take E, you have to drink a lot of water. This is true if you take it at a rave and are doing a lot of dancing and sweating - you need to replace your fluids! Leah was at a family party and not getting into a sweat, but religiously kept downing pints and pints of water, which eventually screwed up her body chemistry and she died.

Education is needed. And the arrest of the bastards who produce the PMA and adulterated Es.

So sorry for your friend

Leah Betts's brain swelled from the amount of water she had drunk, but the conclusion they came to was that if she hadn't had the water she may have survived, but also of she'd still drunk the water but not had the ecstasy she may have survived. They can't say for sure (I watched the documentary last month). No drug is safe because nobody knows what effect it will have on them.

Leah Betts died when I was about 15 so it did put me off taking ecstacy although oddly it made me feel that other drugs such as speed etc were safer which I'm not really sure they are TBH?

It can't hurt getting the word out there as if it gets through to just a few teenagers then that is better than nothing.

So sorry for your friend, so sad!

How absolutely awful, I'm so sorry for your friend.

I am of the mind though, that teenagers and young people will do drugs if thye want to and if their peers do - and however much they are told drugs are dangerous, their experience will very often tell them otherwise.

I took ecstacy fairly regularly in my late teens/early 20s and seeing thousands of people at different clubs having a great time every weekend spoke louder than (what I then thought of as) hysterical preaching about the evils of drugs.

I agree with Oddboots about drug testing and am on the side of educating kids and talking to them - not judging/forbidding/threatening.

I'm worried for my kids as they get older, I guess I will have to be open and honest and pray they are sensible and seek advice etc. I do realise that may not keep them safe and I hope to God they never take drugs at all.

Again, so so sorry .