PARENTS OF CHILDREN WHO DIE IN DRUG OVERDOSE TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST MORE
THAN DEALERS

PITTSBURGH (AP) Brandy French's friends thought they were doing her a favor.

With Brandy high on Ecstasy, they took her to a friend's house, telling
their friend's mother that the 16-year-old was drunk and just needed time
to sleep it off.

The next day, the teen-ager died. Her first time using the drug was her last.

The man accused of selling the pill that killed Brandy faces a homicide
charge, but Brandy's father has gone further. He filed a wrongful death
lawsuit Tuesday against the woman who let Brandy into her home and Brandy's
friends, saying they did too little to prevent the girl's death.

In some civil cases like the one Don French filed in Pittsburgh and another
involving a young woman who died in Las Vegas families want to blame those
they say stood by while their loved ones died.

"He doesn't understand how no one could do anything over several hours,"
said French's lawyer, John Gismondi. "We're talking about a 98-pound child."

Brandy, a sophomore at Ambridge High School about 15 miles northwest of
Pittsburgh, died May 19, a day after a concert near Pittsburgh. She went
with two friends, one of whom, Michelle Maranuk, admits buying Ecstasy
pills for each of them.

Michelle had done the drug a few times and erroneously believed like many
teen users that it was nonlethal, said her lawyer, Greg Schwab.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says medical
examiners in several major U.S. cities reported 27 Ecstasy deaths between
1994 and 1998.

"There is a misrepresentation out there that this is a recreational thing
that can't harm you," Schwab said.

Brandy's friends told authorities she started throwing up at the concert,
which her friends considered a normal reaction. By early evening, she was
sluggish and pale. She had trouble talking.

They took her to the house of a friend, Lewis Hopkins, in nearby Sewickley
in part, said Schwab, because they didn't want her to get in trouble at
home. They told Lewis' mother, Rosalind Hopkins, that Brandy drank too much.

They then put her in a bedroom upstairs.

Don French claims that even though Brandy was unable to talk and her
breathing was abnormal, Rosalind Hopkins waited more than three hours to
call paramedics, who arrived after midnight and could not find a pulse.

Brandy died the following day. The coroner said the cause was an Ecstasy
overdose, which slowly shut down her nervous system, affected her breathing
and stopped her heart.

At the coroner's inquest, Rosalind Hopkins said she thought she had taken
the right steps and asked Brandy's friends several times if they were sure
she had only been drinking.

In the lawsuit, French is requesting damages totaling at least $275,000. He
also has named Clear Channel Entertainment, operator of the concert site,
saying employees failed to help his daughter.

A lawyer for Rosalind Hopkins refused comment, as did a representative for
Clear Channel. Wilson and Sontag could not be reached.

In the Las Vegas case, the parents of Danielle Heird, are suing a casino
and the C2K nightclub where she partied before she died in July 2000,
saying operators should have done more to stop Ecstasy use at the club and
that employees should have been trained to deal with overdoses.

"She gets sick, disoriented," said her parents' attorney, Brent Bryson. "No
one from the club offers any assistance."

The family has also sued two men they say took Heird from the club to a
residence, laid her down on a bed to rest, and went back to the club.

An attorney for Silver Hammer, the company which operates C2K, wouldn't
comment, but has said there is a tape showing Heird leaving the club under
her own power that night.

Sue Rusche, executive director of National Families in Action, a drug
prevention organization based in Atlanta, applauded the lawsuits. "I think
the parents should sue and hold them accountable."

Ecstasy's growing popularity, makes that even more important, Rusche said,
noting research which indicates the drug may cause brain damage, even
though users believe it is safe.

"The kids who are using Ecstasy now are the first-generation guinea pigs,"
she said.