Grieving parents whose sons died from MDMA overdose back campaign to legalise drugs

[neversickanymore]

Grieving parents whose sons died from MDMA overdose back campaign to legalise drugs
Henry Bodkin
12 JUNE 2016

couple who lost both their children on the same night after they took a lethal overdose have backed a campaign to legalise drugs.

Ray and Sarah Lakeman’s lives were torn apart when their two sons died from taking six times the lethal dose of ecstasy after attending a football match.

Jacques, 20, and Torin, 19, from the Isle of Man, had bought powdered MDMA, the chemical name for ecstasy, and amphetamine from a dealer on the so-called dark web, which cannot be discovered through normal search engines.

The brothers were found dead above a pub in Bolton following a Manchester United game in November 2014.

Their parents, retired primary school teacher Ray, 66, and 52-year-old Sarah, a languages teacher, have now backed Anyone’s Child, a group of similarly bereaved parents campaigning to avoid such tragedies by legalising and regulating drugs.

“I don’t want others to suffer from the pain and memories,” said Mr Lakeman in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.

“Children need protection but the law is not stopping them taking drugs, so we need a safer approach.”

The Anyone’s Child campaign was founded three years ago by Anne-Marie Cockburn, an Oxford mother whose 15-year-old daughter died after taking ecstasy.

The group says that making drugs illegal puts the market in criminal hands, increasing the risks for users and fuels crime.

“The only thing that would have saved my boys was to have a safer system so they knew what they were taking,” said Mr Lakeman.

“We insist on the safety and control of alcohol, tobacco, even sugar – so why not with drugs?”

The MDMA had been ordered by Torin Lakeman off a website called Agora from an anonymous vendor called Stone Island.

cont http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...se-sons-died-from-overdose-back-drugs-legali/

 

[poledriver]

Agony of losing both our 'stupid boys' in one night... to ecstasy bought on Dark Web: Grieving father call for drugs that killed his sons to be LEGALISED

Jacques and Torin Lakeman died after taking ecstasy in November 2014
Younger brother Torin, 19, had bought the drug through the 'Dark Web'
Father believes the best way to avoid such tragedies is to legalise drugs

The boy's room at the top of the house looks like any teenager's bedroom, with school pens stacked neatly on the desk and a roll of sticky tape lying on the floor. There are posters of favourite pop stars on the walls, along with one for the film Goodfellas – a movie that Jacques Lakeman watched so many times with his father, Ray.
At the base of the bed is a red futon, where Jacques' younger brother Torin would often sleep when the boys wanted to watch videos together and talk late into the night.
But for 18 months, their mother Sarah has been unable to bear entering this room. And her husband can no longer bring himself to watch that favourite gangster film.

For the memories are too intense, too painful, too overpowering, of how the tight-knit family on the Isle of Man was destroyed by drugs on one terrible night in November 2014.
Their two sons, Jacques, 20, and Torin, 19, born just 15 months apart, died beside each other in another room – above a pub in Bolton – after taking ecstasy. It was their first weekend away together. They had gone to see Manchester United play football.

For the memories are too intense, too painful, too overpowering, of how the tight-knit family on the Isle of Man was destroyed by drugs on one terrible night in November 2014.
Their two sons, Jacques, 20, and Torin, 19, born just 15 months apart, died beside each other in another room – above a pub in Bolton – after taking ecstasy. It was their first weekend away together. They had gone to see Manchester United play football.

Cont -

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rugs-killed-sons-LEGALISED.html#ixzz4BUIRzbMp
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[ro4eva]

Oh my God

 

[slimvictor]

Wow, grieving but sensible parents.
This is a rare jewel of a find.

(But I feel so bad for the poor parents! Losing a child may be the biggest pain imaginable in this life.)

 

[TheBlackSheep]

My heart goes out to families of these two young men. A plan made amongst themselves to have a little fun turned out a way it dose not have to be. "It could have happened to anyone at anytime" which in my opinion isn't a good enough dismissal in this day and age to go by.

I myself was once like these two lads.... Going out raving and experimenting with substances such as mdma which seems to have become more than ever mainstream and popular.

In my youth 10 years ago or so I was fortunate enough to have never heard of any fatalities in my area or peer group, but then again substances like mdma weren't commonly as pure as today's are. This is another clear example of drug prohibition failure. If drugs become legalised I believe tragic stories like this will become hard lessons of the past.

I strongly believe the best way to safely control drugs and protect the public is to legalise and regulate all drugs full stop

With legalisation comes properly made pure substances with all the correct doses, effect profiles and best of all valid arguments as to reasons not to try them.

Education is the key to winning the so called war on drugs, prohibition isn't - prohibition drives both drug trade and users out of sight and worst yet out of reach of help. the government can ban ban and ban drugs till the cows come home but the use of the substance will carry on regardless just in a much more risky way than if everything were regulated.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

Six times the lethal dose? so what is that like 5 grams? I'm not sure how you even think that consuming that much crystal is possible. Making drugs legal to prevent deaths like this wouldnt do a thing...these kids would have just eaten 20 legal pills instead of one. education is the correct route to go.

 

[neversickanymore]

^ did you really think that through.. the part about eating 20 pills instead of one?

 

[manboychef]

Six times the lethal dose? so what is that like 5 grams? I'm not sure how you even think that consuming that much crystal is possible. Making drugs legal to prevent deaths like this wouldnt do a thing...these kids would have just eaten 20 legal pills instead of one. education is the correct route to go.

Education goes hand in hand with something of this nature being legal. Disinformation from an abstinence standpoint keeps the information needed in order to practice safe risk management mixed in with pseudoscience, and blatant disinformation from the supply side (drug myths by users.). Also, when they are illegal there is no way to regulate what you are getting. A standard mg dose, and packaging that has the ingredients on it would stop a lot of ODs from happening.

 

[belligerent drunk]

^ legalization, regulation, education. Three magic words that everyone is so afraid of.