DON'T GO SOFT ON ECSTASY, SAYS MUM

THE mother of an Ulster Ecstasy victim today hit out at a major report
which called for the drug to be classed as a softer drug.

Barbara Giles, whose daughter Sharon died after collapsing outside an
Armagh nightclub in May 1995, said her "heart turned " when she heard an
inquiry set up by the Police Foundation has called for Ecstasy to be
classed as a less dangerous drug.

Mrs Giles, from Seskinore outside Omagh, revealed that this week also
brought further heartache for the family as it would have been Sharon's
24th birthday yesterday.

She died from medical complications after taking an Ecstasy tablet at the
Arena nightclub in Armagh five years ago.

The Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which was set up
by the Police Foundation in August 1997, this week called for penalties for
the possession of soft drugs to be reduced.

The Drugs and the Law report does not suggest any drugs should be legalised
but recommends the classification of individual drugs and associated
penalties should be changed.

This includes a recommendation that Ecstasy be moved from Class A to Class
B - the same category as amphetamines.

But Barbara Giles told the Belfast Telegraph: "To make the drug law more
lenient is to take away whatever protection there is for young people at
present.

"When I heard about this my heart turned. To suggest that Ecstasy should
not be classed as one of the more dangerous drugs is incredible to me. It
is giving young people the impression that it is okay to take Ecstasy
because it is not dangerous.

"Sharon died after taking an Ecstasy tablet - it could not have been more
dangerous for her."Mrs Giles said that not a day passed that she did not
think of Sharon and what had happened to her.

The Giles family has stressed that they believe Sharon, who was a care
assistant at an elderly home, only ever took Ecstasy once and that was the
tablet which killed her.

She had been due to go to college in Liverpool in the autumn of 1995.