A schoolboy who wrote and directed an anti-drugs film died after taking ecstasy "because he heard it was a laugh", an inquest was told yesterday.
Ben Hennessy, 15, lost consciousness after "bombing" up to four and a half ecstasy tablets with a friend, only a week after the film was first screened.
Paramedics found him in the garden of his grandparents' home in St Albans, Herts, in July sweating and shouting incomprehensibly. He died later in hospital.
He had taken up to two tablets with a friend the previous evening at a nightclub. They had been crushed into a fine powder and wrapped in a cigarette paper to form the "bomb", which he then swallowed. He took a further two and a half tablets the next day.
Ben had previously directed a short film called Mixing It, a cautionary tale of a youngster who collapses and dies after mixing drugs.
It was written with friends at Townsend Church of England School, St Albans, as part of a Government-funded initiative to educate children about the dangers of drugs.
He did most of the directing and was cameraman but did not appear in the film. The week before he died Ben had attended the first screening at a cinema in Hatfield, Herts, with his mother, Shirley.
Although the film was designed to be used by agencies such as the police and social services, Hertfordshire county council was considering using it across the county's schools.
The inquest was told that Ben had a temperature of 42C, compared with a normal body temperature of 37C, when he arrived at hospital.
His internal organs were unable to cope and he began suffering fits and heart failure. Doctors were unable to save him and he died from cardio-respiratory arrest.
The friend with whom he shared the ecstasy, who cannot be named, told the inquest they had taken the drug because "it was a laugh. We had heard that other people had taken them and we heard it was a laugh and so we thought we would take them."
Other schoolfriends said they were aware of what Ben was doing in July but said they had kept quiet because he did not want to get into trouble with his mother.
Dr Nathaniel Carey, a Home Office pathologist, found two paper wraps in Ben's body. Toxicology tests showed traces of the designer amphetamines that make up ecstasy and traces of cannabis were also found. The pathologist said Ben had been a novice concerning ecstasy.
Ecstasy abuse was a "game of Russian roulette" and Ben had made it more dangerous by crushing the drug into powder so it was absorbed more easily.
After the hearing, Shirley Bullen, Ben's mother, said she was confused by the stories surrounding his death and was sure he had never tried hard drugs before.
"There have been so many different stories. I don't understand it any more."
Edward Thomas, the coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Source
-----------------------------------------------------
Ecstasy kills boy who made anti-drug film
By Sally Pook
(Filed: 07/01/2004)
The Telegraph, UK
Ben Hennessy, 15, lost consciousness after "bombing" up to four and a half ecstasy tablets with a friend, only a week after the film was first screened.
Paramedics found him in the garden of his grandparents' home in St Albans, Herts, in July sweating and shouting incomprehensibly. He died later in hospital.
He had taken up to two tablets with a friend the previous evening at a nightclub. They had been crushed into a fine powder and wrapped in a cigarette paper to form the "bomb", which he then swallowed. He took a further two and a half tablets the next day.
Ben had previously directed a short film called Mixing It, a cautionary tale of a youngster who collapses and dies after mixing drugs.
It was written with friends at Townsend Church of England School, St Albans, as part of a Government-funded initiative to educate children about the dangers of drugs.
He did most of the directing and was cameraman but did not appear in the film. The week before he died Ben had attended the first screening at a cinema in Hatfield, Herts, with his mother, Shirley.
Although the film was designed to be used by agencies such as the police and social services, Hertfordshire county council was considering using it across the county's schools.
The inquest was told that Ben had a temperature of 42C, compared with a normal body temperature of 37C, when he arrived at hospital.
His internal organs were unable to cope and he began suffering fits and heart failure. Doctors were unable to save him and he died from cardio-respiratory arrest.
The friend with whom he shared the ecstasy, who cannot be named, told the inquest they had taken the drug because "it was a laugh. We had heard that other people had taken them and we heard it was a laugh and so we thought we would take them."
Other schoolfriends said they were aware of what Ben was doing in July but said they had kept quiet because he did not want to get into trouble with his mother.
Dr Nathaniel Carey, a Home Office pathologist, found two paper wraps in Ben's body. Toxicology tests showed traces of the designer amphetamines that make up ecstasy and traces of cannabis were also found. The pathologist said Ben had been a novice concerning ecstasy.
Ecstasy abuse was a "game of Russian roulette" and Ben had made it more dangerous by crushing the drug into powder so it was absorbed more easily.
After the hearing, Shirley Bullen, Ben's mother, said she was confused by the stories surrounding his death and was sure he had never tried hard drugs before.
"There have been so many different stories. I don't understand it any more."
Edward Thomas, the coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death.
Source
-----------------------------------------------------
Ecstasy kills boy who made anti-drug film
By Sally Pook
(Filed: 07/01/2004)
The Telegraph, UK
