[size=+1]Mother speaks out after tests show mephedrone killed son[/size]
Chris Watt
31 May 2010
A teenager who died after taking mephedrone was definitely killed by the then-legal party drug, a toxicology report has confirmed.
A teenager who died after taking mephedrone was definitely killed by the then-legal party drug, a toxicology report has confirmed.
Jordan Kiltie, 19, died in March after a weekend of partying with friends, and had not taken any other substances, an investigation found. The report comes just two days after mephedrone was ruled out as a factor in the deaths of two other teenagers in Scunthorpe.
The English cases prompted calls for a fresh look at how drug policy is formulated, amid claims the UK Government rushed through legislation despite scientific evidence and advice. Some saw it as a knee-jerk reaction to media coverage.
As the results of the Scottish toxicology test came to light, Jordan Kiltie’s mother, Angie, said her grief had been compounded by rumours he had taken a cocktail of drugs including mephedrone, known locally as moonshine and sold as a plant food online and in sex shops.
She has now had a letter from the procurator-fiscal stating: “The pathologist has decided that the cause of death should be amended to 1(a) mephedrone intoxication.” Previously, the cause of death had been uncertain.
Kiltie, 35, said: “This is proof that it has been mephedrone and nothing else that took my son’s life.
“There was no alcohol in his system and he hadn’t been mixing it with anything else.
“In one sense I am glad that it has been mephedrone, because it has put my mind at rest that he wasn’t taking anything else, as a lot of people were saying.
“But at the same time it is maddening to think that at the time it was legal to buy this over the counter in at least two shops in Ayr.”
She added: “I want it to be made clear that I have not been paid nor have I sought any money for revealing the pathologist’s findings, I have gone public because I just want youngsters to know that mephedrone on its own is a killer, in the hope that no other parents or families have to endure what we have been going through.”
As mephedrone is now a Class B drug, suppliers face a 14-year jail term, while possession alone can mean two to five years’ jail.
Jordan Kiltie’s death prompted a Herald investigation into mephedrone in Ayr. All the local youngsters our reporter spoke to over a three-day period had taken the drug themselves or knew someone else who had.
Other legal highs are still widely available and Kiltie yesterday renewed her calls for the Government to bring in more stringent measures.
“I would like to see the same system as is in place in America introduced here whereby all such substances are banned for a year while they are thoroughly tested to establish whether they can cause harm to people,” she said.
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock MP Sandra Osborne praised Kiltie’s courage, adding: “I am in total agreement with her view that it is ridiculous that shops continue to sell these substances – whether legal or not – which were not intended for human consumption.
“We now have proof that mephedrone on its own can indeed cause death.”
Link: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...-killed-son-1.1031554?localLinksEnabled=false
Chris Watt
31 May 2010
A teenager who died after taking mephedrone was definitely killed by the then-legal party drug, a toxicology report has confirmed.
A teenager who died after taking mephedrone was definitely killed by the then-legal party drug, a toxicology report has confirmed.
Jordan Kiltie, 19, died in March after a weekend of partying with friends, and had not taken any other substances, an investigation found. The report comes just two days after mephedrone was ruled out as a factor in the deaths of two other teenagers in Scunthorpe.
The English cases prompted calls for a fresh look at how drug policy is formulated, amid claims the UK Government rushed through legislation despite scientific evidence and advice. Some saw it as a knee-jerk reaction to media coverage.
As the results of the Scottish toxicology test came to light, Jordan Kiltie’s mother, Angie, said her grief had been compounded by rumours he had taken a cocktail of drugs including mephedrone, known locally as moonshine and sold as a plant food online and in sex shops.
She has now had a letter from the procurator-fiscal stating: “The pathologist has decided that the cause of death should be amended to 1(a) mephedrone intoxication.” Previously, the cause of death had been uncertain.
Kiltie, 35, said: “This is proof that it has been mephedrone and nothing else that took my son’s life.
“There was no alcohol in his system and he hadn’t been mixing it with anything else.
“In one sense I am glad that it has been mephedrone, because it has put my mind at rest that he wasn’t taking anything else, as a lot of people were saying.
“But at the same time it is maddening to think that at the time it was legal to buy this over the counter in at least two shops in Ayr.”
She added: “I want it to be made clear that I have not been paid nor have I sought any money for revealing the pathologist’s findings, I have gone public because I just want youngsters to know that mephedrone on its own is a killer, in the hope that no other parents or families have to endure what we have been going through.”
As mephedrone is now a Class B drug, suppliers face a 14-year jail term, while possession alone can mean two to five years’ jail.
Jordan Kiltie’s death prompted a Herald investigation into mephedrone in Ayr. All the local youngsters our reporter spoke to over a three-day period had taken the drug themselves or knew someone else who had.
Other legal highs are still widely available and Kiltie yesterday renewed her calls for the Government to bring in more stringent measures.
“I would like to see the same system as is in place in America introduced here whereby all such substances are banned for a year while they are thoroughly tested to establish whether they can cause harm to people,” she said.
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock MP Sandra Osborne praised Kiltie’s courage, adding: “I am in total agreement with her view that it is ridiculous that shops continue to sell these substances – whether legal or not – which were not intended for human consumption.
“We now have proof that mephedrone on its own can indeed cause death.”
Link: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...-killed-son-1.1031554?localLinksEnabled=false
