OUTCRY FROM FAMILIES AS MINISTERS CONSIDER DOWNGRADING
ECSTASY AND LSD

The father of an 18-year-old girl who died suddenly after taking
Ecstasy bitterly attacked plans to downgrade the drug.

Siobhan Delaney, had planned to study drama at university when her
life was cut short after she collapsed at a nightclub last year.

Her father Des Delaney, 55, had strong words for Professor David Nutt
for wanting to remove the drug's Class A status.

'I'd like that professor to stand beside Siobhan's grave and say he
wants to downgrade the drug.

'Or to stand by the graves of any of the other hundreds of kids who
have died.'

Mr Delaney, a mechanic, added: 'It amazes me, that mentality. It's a
big buck pass. The government can't do anything about drugs across the
board, they have lost control of it all, and so they try to make it
easier to get hold of drugs.

'They should be looking at ways of stopping the drugs.'

'He ought to put himself in my situation, or that of parents like me.
People don't know the dangers of ecstasy.

'People don't know what damage it will do in later life. The
government should put more research into the drug's effects and to
stop drug pushers putting it around.'

Siobhan had been drinking at a bar in Liverpool with her boyfriend
Doug Ellison, a former trainee Royal Navy helicopter technician in
August 2005.

While dancing and drinking several bottles of the alcopop WKD, Siobhan
started to become dehydrated and drank bottle after bottle of water.

She was sick at 5am, when Mr Ellison took her home, and she let
herself in and went to bed. When her father checked on her, he found
her semi-conscious and she was taken to University Hospital Aintree,
Liverpool.

Her brain had swollen as a result of the amount of water she had
drunk, leaving her in a coma. Her life support machine was switched
off the next day.

To compound her parents' misery, no one was prosecuted for Siobhan's
death.

Siobhan, the youngest of five children from Kirby, had helped out at
her local youth group and Catholic church had been working part-time
at McDonalds after her exams.

After her death, her parents learned that she had achieved the results
she needed to secure a college place to study drama.

An inquest earlier this year recorded a verdict of death by
misadventure.

Siobhan was one of more than 200 people have died from Ecstasy in the
last 20 years, mostly from heatstroke, too much fluid or heart failure.

Use of the drug while dancing in a hot nightclub can cause body
temperature to rise over the danger limit of 40C, with symptoms
including convulsions and dilated pupils.

Many of the deaths have been caused by a mistaken belief that drinking
lots of water will offset any side-effects.

While it is a good idea to sip water frequently, if the Ecstasy has
caused the body to retain water, it can build up in the brain cells
and eventually the pressure shuts down primary bodily functions.