"Leah Betts – 10 Years On"

Interesting article on the Beeb today, mostly focusing on how the parent of Leah Betts have given up campaigning against Ecstasy, as they feel disillusioned that the government is relaxing their stance on it more and more.

I really feel for them, always did, but at the same time I’ve always felt the best way to sort out the drugs problem in this country is through being upfront and honest about the dangers, rather than scaremongering, and its ironic that it is what happened to Leah Betts that probably spurred this on, in that before her death the full facts where not being explained, and so she died from drinking water on E, the very thing that the papers at the time were saying you should do.

I do feel like this country is very slowly creaking its way towards decriminalisation of some sort for all soft drugs, possible all drugs full stop. Harmfulness and anti-social elements aside, its clear that people want to take drugs, and it’s certainly arguable that it is their right to do so if they so desire, especially in view of alcohol being legal, and I just think the government should standardise, legitimise (and tax through the nose) the whole thing.

Still, was interesting to read the article. Leah Betts died right in the middle of that stage in my life when me and a lot of my friends were pissing about with soft drugs, and I remember it being an incredibly significant event at the time Sad to think that her parents still don’t have closure.

CrispyXUK wrote:
I think that story was the main reason I didn't try everything as it were

I'd feel quite bitter and twisted about that if I were you. ;)

Wasn't it also something about impurities in the pills she popped too?

There were a lot of stories around that time and the tabloids always did their best to not mention anything about other factors, only the main drug itself.

I always thought the hole in there arguement about making drugs more illegal than they already are was that if they were legal(and monitored etc ) this probably wouldn't have happened.

Although... the problem with legalising drugs for me is the risk that the glamour of doing something illegal will drop and the real tards will hunt out whatever is still illegal, moon crack and radioactive heroin.

Did wake a lot of people up though, pity most of them were extremely casual users anyway.

this happened at a time when we were all taking quite a lot of all types of drugs, incl. e's pretty regularly...

I don't remember it having any effect on anyone i knew. It seemed like a case of bad luck and crappy mates (why didn't anyone look after her?) and the media sensationalism just made us laugh.

Retroid wrote:
Wasn't it also something about impurities in the pills she popped too?

Just too much water - combined with what the E did.

The advice at the time was crap.

ssuellid wrote:

Retroid wrote:
Wasn't it also something about impurities in the pills she popped too?

Just too much water - combined with what the E did.

The advice at the time was crap.

Indeed. The first thing that came out was all about the impurites, then it was revealed that the pill she took was about as pure as you could get. It was just the water.

CrispyXUK wrote:
whats wrong with water then?

"But Leah did not die of an allergic reaction to either ecstasy or a contaminant.

The teenager died because of "water intoxication", after consuming more than three litres of water in a very short space of time.

When too much water is consumed, tissue in the body can swell. In the case of the brain, this can lead to seizures, coma and death.

The problem - and the related drop in salt levels, hyponatremia - is more commonly encountered by endurance athletes.

In Leah's case, excessive water consumption was exacerbated by the ecstasy causing her body to release anti-diuretic hormones, stopping a normal level of urination that could have saved her. "

Essentially it overloads the kidneys and they burst. Not nice.

As I understand it, E does something that means your brain can’t absorb water at its normal rate, which is why now they recommend that you only drink water if you are going to be sweating lots, and even then you should have some salty snacks too, to help absorb it into your system. I’m pretty sure they only know this because of Leah Betts.

CrispyXUK wrote:
whats wrong with water then?

Water intoxication.

Sounds like a very unpleasant way to die.

Sillothian

Spanky wrote:
Although... the problem with legalising drugs for me is the risk that the glamour of doing something illegal will drop and the real tards will hunt out whatever is still illegal, moon crack and radioactive heroin.

Then these people obviously deserve the inevitable results of their actions.

I remember hvaing "the drugs talk" at school, and we were shown the Leah Betts video. It pretty much put most of the class off drugs and had quite an impact on us.
certainly put me off, I tried smoking and didn't like it, so now I just booze ;)

squaylor wrote:
Essentially it overloads the kidneys and they burst. Not nice.

:S

I dont think it was impurities, if I remember correctly they were apples, which were a high quality E.

It was just the water, and the peeps around her not telling the whole facts etc to the ambulance people??

Memories fading.

Jetset_UK wrote:
Memories fading.

Must be getting really bad - to forget what was in the thread before you got to the end.

;)

its the same as anything, some things kill some but not others.

pints and pints of water can be drunk and nothing will go wrong but a reason had to be found.

nut allergy, heart defect that kills you when you're 25, wasp sting death, dies from taking a pill. Its all the same.

more likely to die playing football or river fishing i read, on the internet....hence truth.

Jetset_UK wrote:
I dont think it was impurities, if I remember correctly they were apples, which were a high quality E.

It was just the water, and the peeps around her not telling the whole facts etc to the ambulance people??

Memories fading.

Exactly... I remember quite well surprisingly since I did quite a lot of them.

lethally strong though... 1 was enough to give you that slinky vision effect when you came up.

One thing the case did as others have said is educate a lot of people about the potential dangers.

Never tried it meself, the last thing I want on a night out is something that will encourage me to dance.

Daughter dies from drugs, parents blame everyone else. Thats how I interpretted it anyway.