Father Sues Over Daughter’s Ecstasy Death
from the another-drug-war-propaganda-related-death dept.
From ABC News comes this 20/20 story about 16-year-old Brandy French, who died after taking Ecstasy for the first time, while the friends who gave her the drug spent hours, literally, trying to decide if they should risk calling 911 or taking her to a hospital. Now the girl’s father is suing her friends, hoping to send a message to others who might find themselves in a similar situation. Too bad he didn’t name the Partnership for a Drug-Free America in the suit, for the role that organization plays in fostering the environment of fear and ignorance that leads to deaths like these.
July 27th, 2004 at 6:14 am
Too bad Brandy didn’t actually take MDMA, rather an adulterated pill misrepresented as “ecstasy”.
This is an argument for government regulated production to quality standards, no?
Pure MDMA has been linked to only 12 deaths since data has been recorded. Most of the “MDMA deaths” one will read about in the media are the result of children imbibing impure drugs, mixing dangerous combinations of drugs, or drinking too much water (hyponatremia).
An education campaign giving children the real facts about safe use, combined with on-site drug testing organizations such as Dance-safe would do much to reduce the needless deaths caused by the secondary effects of prohibition.
It wouldn’t take more than a sheet of paper in congress to revert all these inane drug laws.. but then, that would destroy the interests of the Prison complex… not to mention the billions of dollars a year given to employment drug testing firms, and the loads of money the CIA earns through drug smuggling operations. (Oh yeah, the military benefits too).
October 31st, 2004 at 11:32 pm
I am so glad I found your site. I have the same opinions about drug use, and the drug laws.
Good to know there is another I can find that expresses my same concerns.
I am especially aggrieved over the Irma Perez story. The 13 year-old that died from E. 5 people went to jail over that. One for 5 years.
November 1st, 2004 at 12:55 am
According to Chris Jones, teacher of Critical Care Courses for Nurses, Edge Hill University College, Liverpool (http://www.ecstasy.org/info/emergency.html)(How to Deal with Problems)[from Ecstasy Reconsidered]:
“The problems associated with E result from overheating (hyperthermia).***Currently the leading theory is that the deaths associated with E are a form of drug induced heat stroke.***On the other hand, the heat stroke theory is just that – a theory.”
But, Mr. Jones adds: “[There] are people who, for an improperly understood reason, lose some of the sodium (salt) in their blood. Maybe it is sweated out. Maybe it is urinated out in higher than normal quantities. Maybe ecstasy causes people to become thirsty and they dilute their sodium by drinking too much water. For whatever reason, they lose sodium. Technically, this is called hyponatraemia.
Sodium has the remarkable quality of holding water in the body’s veins and arteries. Without it we tend to lose water into the fabric of our body’s tissues. We swell. This does not present so much of a problem for most tissues but it presents the brain with real difficulties. The brain, encased as it is by skull, cannot swell a lot. It becomes compressed and puts pressure on the brain stem which controls heart and breathing functions. This can be fatal. ‘Isotonic’ drinks, unlike pure water, will help replace some minerals like sodium and preserve the balance of fluids in circulation.”
Gatorade can save a dying Ecstasy user. Perhaps those football coaches know something we don’t. Could it be that simple?
Jones suggests wherever Ecstasy is used, water should be made available, and chilled soft drinks, particularly sports drinks which contain sodium. Another precaution is to provide air conditioning and ventilation. This will control temperature rises in enclosed areas and prevent overheating by the user(s).
Jones warns: “Do not be tempted to give the victim large volumes to drink. Drinking pint after pint of water can seriously damage the delicate balance of fluids inside a person’s body. The result of this can be catastrophic and itself cause unconsciousness and fitting in the victim. Sipping a glass of cold water over an hour will replace lost fluids, and a mineral rich replacement sachet or isotonic sports drink should supplement salts.”
This is such a simple advise. I wonder how many times Government drug education programs have taught this instruction?
Jones notes that: “Many hospitals in city areas have now seen at least one example of an ecstasy related emergency and most units are now sensitive to this type of drug emergency.”
Sadly, this is the real “drug education” people are getting. Jones and others are inured to the reality of a negligent society, in denial, and too contemptuous to remedy casualties from drug use. I believe Jones here, that hospitals are learning by experience. I doubt if any hospital has been offered clinical instruction to assist drug users by the Government. Are our hospitals unable to properly treat users of Ecstasy? Does it take an emergency for a hospital to learn the cure of administering water and sodium?
In the tragedy of poor 13 year-old Irma Perez, she was vomiting and complaining of a weird feeling in her throat. She was in pain. Not knowing what else to do, her friends fed her milk and bread and gave her lots of water — which may have contributed to her brain death by diluting the sodium levels in her blood. If only the DARE program would have taught them the above simple instruction.
In the case of Lorna Spinks, 19, she lay dying in a hospital, her face swollen, while the doctors were clueless what to do. They decided to take a picture of her. Her parents, Elizabeth and Alan, said they hoped the horror of the image of their daughter’s dead body in a hospital bed would serve as a warning to other youngsters. The photograph, printed in the Daily Mail (England), shows Lorna’s swollen face, with one eye half-open and tubes sticking out of her nose and mouth.
Lorna’s and Irma’s death were classic reactions to Ecstasy as explained by Jones here. Others could very well learn, including both hospitals that held the girls, but the parents are misguided, and the authorities are so over-zealous in acting tough, they all miss the “lesson.”
The parents of Spinks wanted to show their dead daughter’s face to scare others. The lesson that could have SAVED others, was along the suggestion of Mr. Jones. Water – sodium – air.
Good grief.
May 8th, 2005 at 4:39 am
There has been a protein linked to ecstasy death and is more than likely the cause of serious hyperthermia. Check it out.