Grieving parents' ecstasy plea
2nd January 2007, 6:30 WST
The grieving family of the 21-year-old woman who died of a suspected rare ecstasy overdose in Dunsborough have spoken out in the hope that other partygoers will learn from the tragedy that claimed her life.
Too distressed to speak publicly, the family released a statement through police saying they were shocked by the sudden and unexpected death of Michelle Jane Poore on Sunday morning.
They said the tragedy had a terrible impact on family and friends and urged potential users to bear this in mind before taking illicit drugs.
Ms Poore had travelled to Dunsborough with friends to celebrate new year on Saturday. Investigators have established that she consumed several heart-shaped pills in the mid-evening.
One of the woman's friends consumed half a pill but did not report any ill-effects.
Ms Poore started feeling ill and an ambulance was called to the Dunsborough Motel about 11pm on Saturday. By 2am on Sunday, she was dead.
"She would appear from our inquiries that she is just a normal, 21-year-old woman who does not have a long drug history, who, like many other young people, have taken to using drugs like this as part of the party scene,‘ Dunsborough Sgt Ian Clarke said.
"This shows that this is very dangerous, you just have no idea what you're taking. Unfortunately, she's not the first and she probably won't be the last."
A post-mortem examination is likely to be conducted this week to establish the cause of death.
Sgt Clarke said the fatal overdose was one of several worrying incidents involving drug and alcohol consumption during the long weekend.
"Since midnight from Dunsborough alone, we know of three women who have been taken to Busselton Hospital emergency department for alcohol and possible drug consumption," he said.
"They have been taken there because they have collapsed … in one case we found a woman lying on the side of the road by herself, which has huge potential implications."
Organised crime squad Det-Sen. Sgt Paul McMurtrie said heart-shaped ecstasy pills had appeared on the drug scene in recent months and were reasonably common. He said there had been regular, small seizures of the drug, which, like other forms of ecstasy, was amphetamine-based.
"Any amphetamine or synthetic drug, inclusive of ecstasy, is made illegally and has no quality control," Sen. Sgt McMurtrie said. "The quantity and quality of the drug can vary from tablet to tablet and there are inherent risks of taking illegal drugs."
Ecstasy, or methylenedioxyme thamphetamine (MDMA), is usually manufactured in Europe and imported to Australia via the Eastern States, though authorities have uncovered clandestine laboratories in some States, including WA.
Ecstasy overdoses generally occur when the body overheats and dehydrates, and users have also been known to die after consuming excessive amounts of water to compensate for the overheating sensation. The last known fatal ecstasy overdose in WA was in 2000.
Drug and Alcohol Office prevention and practice development director Gary Kirby said users could never be sure of what they were getting with illicit drugs, including ecstasy.
"We know the party season will continue for another two or three months yet, and people need to remember the best approach is not to use but if you're going to use you need to make yourself fully conversant with the possible risks associated with it, and there are things people need to do to keep themselves safe," Mr Kirby said.
LUKE ELIOT
From The West Online

. For as much as we know, she could have died from any other ecstasy-related death, but not one specifically caused by MDMA or any other analogues.