Pubdate: Sat, 08 Dec 2001
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2001 BBC
Contact: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

VICTIM'S FATHER FRONTS ECSTASY CAMPAIGN

The father of a student who died after taking ecstasy is to spearhead 
a poster campaign highlighting the risks of the drug. Alan Spinks, 
whose daughter Lorna, 19, died in Cambridge in May, said he wanted to 
make young people aware of the dangers of the drugs.

He said he was particularly keen to do so in the light of government 
moves to relax drug laws.

The poster, which shows a series of ecstasy tablets below the 
catchline "Which One is the Killer?" is expected to appear on 
billboards around the UK in coming weeks.

The poster campaign is being organised by a London-based advertising agency.

Mr Spinks said he and other bereaved families and activists were 
"trying to warn of the danger that is undermining the country's next 
generation".

"Since the authorities take such a soft line, the impetus for making 
users aware of the risks must come from elsewhere," he said.

Class A Drug

The government recently announced that people found in possession of 
small amounts of cannabis would not be prosecuted in future.

There have also been suggestions that some government officials and 
senior police officers would like to take a softer line on ecstasy 
users.

On Friday a Liberal Democrat party policy working group called for 
ecstasy to be reclassified from the class A list of the most harmful 
drugs, to class B.

The Runciman report for the Police Foundation has also recommended 
that change, although the government has rejected the idea.

It is estimated that half a million people in the UK take ecstasy each week.

About eight people a year have been killed by the drug since the late 1980s.

But the chances of long-term damage are thought to be much higher.

The health dangers are still being established by the medical 
profession, but its main risk is understood to be brain damage 
leading to psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and 
panic attacks.

Ms Spinks, a student at Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge, 
died after taking two ecstasy pills, described by police as 
"exceptionally high strength", at a nightclub.

The post-mortem said she had died of ecstasy poisoning, which had 
thinned her blood so that she suffered internal bleeding and 
ultimately heart failure.

Lorna's parents released a photograph of their daughter's dead body 
in a hospital bed to serve as a warning to other youngsters thinking 
of taking the drug.

The photograph showed Lorna's swollen face with one eye half-open and 
tubes sticking out of her nose and mouth.
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MAP posted-by: Josh