Helping Your Friends!

Steve said...
Our question is what you think the best way of cutting the number of tragedies amongst those that are going to take drugs regardless of the message your films carry?
2:17 PM

Beth said...
MY ANSWER TO THE QUESTION ABOVE IS,IF THERE SEEMS TO BE ANY HINT OF TROUBLE YOU CALL 911! YOU DON'T WAIT, DON'T BE IN DENIAL THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH YOU OR A FRIEND,YOU JUST CALL! 911

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR EVERYONE WHO CHOOSES TO DO A HIGH RISK ACTIVITY, YOU NEED TO NOT ALLOW YOU OR OTHERS AROUND YOU TO DENY THE FACT THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM! (REMEMBER THE PERSON HAVING THE PROBLEM IS THE ONE THAT NEEDS THE OTHERS TO HELP HIM OR HER OUT!

THEY'RE NOT DOING WELL AND THEY CAN'T THINK!)THE VERY NATURE OF ECSTASY GIVES EVERYONE THE FEELING THAT EVERYTHING IS O.K. SO IT'S EASY TO THEN NOT SEE THAT SOMEONE IS HAVING A PROBLEM. THERE HAVE BEEN KIDS WHO HAVE MOVED SOMEONE THAT'S IN A REAL MEDICAL CRISIS INTO ANOTHER ROOM, 'BECAUSE THE NOISE WAS BOTHERING THEM!" ALL OF THIS INFORMATION IS IN EITHER THE TEEN EDITION OR THE PARENT EDITION. www.voiceofthevictims.com

TOP PRIORITY ON EVERYONE'S MIND NEEDS TO BE TO CALL 911

DON'T EVEN ENTERTAIN THESE THOUGHTS:
THEY'LL BE O.K.THEY'LL SLEEP IT OFF.OR WORSE: WHAT IF I CALL AND IT'S REALLY NOT THAT BAD?
I SAY SO!!!!!! YOU ARE NEVER EVER EVER WRONG TO CALL! THIS IS WHAT ALL OF THE DOCTORS AND THE EXPERTS TOLD ME!

HOPE THIS HELPS!

BETH
http://voiceofthevictims.com/Order.htm

Brent Shapiro

How many more DEATHS do we need, BEFORE ANYONE WILL UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU TAKE ECSTASY, YOU CAN DIE!

NOTE: The type that is blue is me, Beth

Brent Shapiro died after taking just half of an ecstasy tablet!! The word overdose doesn't even seem to fit with many of these deaths. We need to call it what it is, "It's ecstasy poisoning"

Here are some parts from the Larry King show.

For 18 months Brent Shapiro was sober. He was doing incredibly well at USC. He had decided he was going to go to law school, even though he was in a specialized music school there in a specialized program for music industry, which he loved and wanted to get into.

And so, you know, if you asked me this two or three years before, I'd say every night I'd expect a call. You never know when that call is coming. But for 18 months to see the smile on this kid's face. He never was happier. He had everything he wanted in life. He was a giant sports fan and USC was undefeated. He just had everything going for him.

KING: How good a brother was he, Grant?

G. SHAPIRO: The best brother anybody could ask for. He just had such a big heart and he would, you know, place his friends and family before himself in the snap of a second.

What a horrible nightmare! My heart goes out to the whole family and to everyone who has to lose someone to drugs! It's especially tragic when it's talked about so much as being safe!

I'm now going to add to this, and I hope all of you are as pissed off as I am. I am going to be searching the internet and telling all of you what the dangerous idiots out there are telling our kids. I'm done with being polite to those who endanger our kids and plain don't give a you know what. I will not even allow any comments on this site that entertain or imply that Ecstasy, Ketamine, GHB, DXM or Binge Drinking is O.K. to do! If you do it and you survived Good for you! BUT NOT everyone does, and I will not have anymore stupid debates on this subject going on, on MY site! If you want to talk about these drugs and how you think they are O.K. Start your own weblog and say what ever the hell you want!

I stopped posting on my own site for a while because I couldn’t take the stupid debating, it was draining me, and bringing me down and away from what I do best. This weblog is just a supplement to what I really do. I make true stories about what happened to kids and their families when their child either chose to take on their own OR were slipped these drugs! Please fgo to my web site to see more on the kids and the previews and so much more.

Here are one person’s thoughts on ecstasy. See what you think. I’ll of course put in my opinion to!


Here it is:

Let me stop here for just a second before I continue this article for a Harm Reduction Public Service Announcement.
Note: Harm reduction is now being admitted as a real mistake in Australia. (Beth)
The same one that my youngest daughter at 19 years old hears from me, her father. IF YOU DECIDE TO TAKE ECSTASY DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL! Period!
Sounds like great father of the year advise to me?

Had Cathy Isford heard that from the DEA as a truthful message passed from them on to her by her parents (instead of politically driven propaganda which bears little relation to the reality of the street or the medical facts) she likely could have been alive today.

Cathy barely even had any alcohol at all; the truth here is she died from the ecstasy, PERIOD! I have a copy of her autopsy report; there was no alcohol in her system. She took 2 pills.

The LA Times also reported that Isford was no stranger to ecstasy and there was a letter to the editor published which also brought up harm reduction.

Jim White from Oregon, Ohio wrote "Would Isford be here today if drug education included factual, honest information rather than zero tolerance, zero intelligence, zero responsibility and do-nothing, feel-good propaganda?
What?? Man where do I even begin with this one? How do you teach honest information about something that who knows who is making, what they are putting in the pills and how strong they are? Come on Get Real here!

If we had a second chance, would we tell her something else, something that might have saved her life, even if she didn't "just say no"?"
YES! I wish she had been able to see what happened to the other kids, before it was too late for her. When Cathy died, I was just getting the money together to buy my equipment to make the film. I couldn't stand the thought that another person died, before I could get the film out there.

What do we say now to Irma Perez's family? Irma and so many other teens DID NOT DRINK ANY ALCOHOL AT ALL! More on Irma real soon. I'll be talking to her sister who raised her, (their mother died young)

we’ll be talking about the Alcohol theory more!

Be back soon!

Take care and Please be safe!

Beth
P.S Be sure to look in at the comment section.

KETAMINE ALERT IN BIRMINGHAM

IT LOOKS LIKE THEY ARE STARTING TO WORRY ABOUT KETAMINE IN BIRMINGHAM. MY COMMENTS WILL SHOW UP IN BLUE. (BETH)
Parts taken from Global News Wire - Europe Intelligence Wire - Birmingham Post and Mail Ltd
Evening Mail
September 6, 2005
HEADLINE: ALERT ON NEW HIGH
BYLINE: ALISON DAYANI

A DANGEROUS hallucinogenic horse tranquillizer is sweeping Birmingham's clubland, it emerged today.

Ketamine is even overtaking ecstasy in the popularity stakes, shock findings by charity DrugScope reveal.

But even though the powerful veterinary anesthetic is legal, it can cause temporary paralysis, memory loss or even make the heart and lungs shut down if mixed with alcohol or other pills. ERIN ROSE ALMOST DIED FROM TAKING JUST KETAMINE. CLICK TO SEE ERIN NOW.

"People aged 18 to 25 are taking ketamine for a more trippy night out” You can spot them on the dance-floor because they're not dancing, they're sitting down in a vegetative state." He added that ketamine was being taken with crystal methamphetamine on the city's gay club scene and also by middle class people who like to party hard at the weekend and then go back to work in the week.

There are concerns over health risks associated with higher doses, including accidents due to lack of co-ordination, loss of consciousness and possible long-term damage to the memory.

You all need to know you can also stop breathing, like Erin and suffer permanent brain damage.

The singer Pink also overdosed on Ketamine about ten years ago! I just learned this myself. Interesting that "PINK" is Erin's favorite singer, she just loves her, especially the song "Bad Pill" Erin and I always felt, (got the really deep feeling she really knew from experience about overdosing) I guess we had it right!

A spokeswoman for Druglink, said: "The emergence of ketamine as a key substance of choice is an entirely new phenomenon since the last survey, when it didn't figure at all.

It comes in a variety of forms, ranging from liquid for injecting to a pill.

It first found its way on the club scene in 1992 when people took it thinking they were buying ecstasy.

Heiress Marcia Moore injected ketamine daily. She vanished in 1979 and her skeleton was discovered two years later. She had climbed a tree, injected all the ketamine she had, and frozen to death.

SOME OF THE LYRICS TO BAD PILL BY "PINK" ARE:

I'M LYING HERE ON THE FLOOR WHERE YOU LEFT ME, I THINK I TOOK TOO MUCH, I'M CRYING HERE, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN.

PAMSFIGHT

On October 16th, 2005, my sister lost her battle with alcohol. She died from liver failure caused by drinking Everclear. It caused multi-organ failure.

She passed away around 1:00 am. That morning with all of her family by her side, I sat at her bedside until she took her last breath. We prayed and talked to her.

I am reading everything I can about Everclear and the more I read the more mad I become. How can we allow this to be produced and marketed when there is such a fatal outcome??

Just to tell how bad Everclear is, one doctor swore that her throat and stomach looked as if she tried to drink DRAIN-O. She left behind 3 wonderful kids and a 5 month old Grandson.

I am so heart broke...

To Pamsfight:

I am soooo sorry for your loss! Until you shared with us here what was happening with your sister, I had never even heard of Everclear! I’m sure there are so many others out there that don’t know about this either or how dangerous it can be!

When you feel up to it, I would really like to ask you some questions in order to help teach others that this is nothing to mess around with. So you take it easy, take your time and when you are ready will you please send me an email?

My heart goes out to all of you!! I just HATE THESE UNNESSESARY DEATHS!!!

Beth@voiceofthevictims.com

Ecstasy Rape turns into a Murder!

How do You Tell about Sara?

By Beth Pearce
Voice of the Victims

When I went to Chicago with my camera crew to talk to Sara’s family and friends about the ecstasy that she took, I had no idea how truly evil her story really was. It took everything I had inside me to NOT out loud sob cry or run from the room! I am a mom that can’t stand what is happening to our kids because of designer drugs, and knowing not too many parents even know about these until their child is dead or in the emergency room. I make “True Story Documentaries about the dangers of drugs” to teach the kids and Parents before they get in to trouble with them. Sara is one of the beautiful kids that is in my film.

Sara was an only child. She was beautiful, kind, smart, very nice, and just a very sweet girl, until she met Garrett! When Sara was 18 years old she started hanging out with Garrett, he was 21 years old and was just a friend. He was like a brother to her, and would take care of her.

The night before Mother’s Day 2001, Sara was out with friends, they were going to go to Starbucks hang out, just have fun! Around midnight Sara called her mom to say she was at Garrett’s house; his mother was home his sister was there and not to worry they were going to play Video games and watch some movies, and she would just spend the night there.

This is what happened next. Sara took 3 ecstasy pills that night along with Garrett and another male that was with them. They were downstairs in the basement that was made up as the recreation room. Soon after taking the pills, she was pulling at her hair and grabbing her throat saying she couldn’t breathe. She was talking to people that weren’t there, so she was hallucinating. She was suffering on the floor for six hours.

By ten o’clock the next morning, Jan, Sara’s mom got a call from the police, saying that Sara had had a seizure or something; they were asking her if she was on any mediation or if she was sick. Jan said no, Sara was not on any medication and not sick. She rushed over to Garrett house to find Sara on the floor. The paramedics kept asking Garrett what she took, he continued to just walk around like nothing was happening saying she took nothing. They were all begging him to tell them what she took, he just stuck with the lie that she took nothing, even though, and just maybe it could have saved Sara’s life to tell the truth. Sara was rushed to the hospital; her temperature was 108 degrees she was bleeding, internally. There was a doctor there that thought it could be ecstasy, so that’s how they started treating her. The doctors told the parents that her nerve endings were dead and that she probably didn’t know what was going on. Sara’s eyes were fixed up at the ceiling….. No response… But when the Parents went into the room, the nurses noticed that she cried… A tear out of one eye and then the other. Sara could have been inside!!

The doctors had to tell the Jan and Robert (Sara’s Parents) that there was just nothing more that could be done for Sara. As Jan explains this, “The silence when they turn the machines off is the loudest silence I had ever heard!”

Sara had expressed to someone at one time that she wanted to be cremated. So Jan and Robert took her home, she’s by Jan’s chair, and she talks to her all the time.

Four days before Sara passed away the police had a warrant out for the arrest of Garrett, for selling drugs. The police never picked him up. They wanted to see what else he would do. As Jan says, it’s like a door opened for Sara, if he had been picked up the door would have been closed. You see…. what they found out later, on tape, as Garrett is bragging to his cell mate is this…

Garrett’s plan was to rape Sara! He was the one getting the water for the group he wanted Sara, so he crushed up four pills and put it in her water. He claimed she chugged it, as if that would have made a difference if she had drank it slowly. Garrett got 15 years in prison for the selling of drugs. Half his time was knocked off right away, he is due out of prison in 2007. Garrett was never tried for the murder of Sara. The judge did take his confession to the cell mate into consideration and gave him the 15 years, which then went to 7 and a half.
New Update:
Garrett is now due to be released before Thanksgiving 2005.

As Mom says, “How do you keep your children safe? How do you know who they should be hanging out with, especially when they say they’re like a brother and will take care of her?”




Here are my feelings on this whole tragedy! Garrett is a guy that looks like the guy next door, or the cute guy on the football team! He was supposed to have been Sara’s friend! Garrett has no remorse for what he did to Sara. He was bragging about the whole thing just days later! I think he will do this again. He is in Prison in Chicago, his parents live in Arizona now, and he needs to be watched!

What I want to say to the young women that think they are safer if they have a male with them, don’t be so sure! Sara had a male friend with her, who she thought would help keep her safe! Why did Sara feel the need to have another male with her when she was with Garrett? I just feel so bad that Sara didn’t follow her instincts and stay away from this creep all together. I think she did have some red flag warnings that she decided were probably nothing and she sort of ignored them, or thought that if the other guy was there, she was safe, everything would be O.K. Doesn’t this happen to us many times? We will have a thought and talk ourselves out of it, thinking we are just being silly, nothing is going to happen! We need to stop and really give ourselves credit, pay attention to those little thought flashes, red flags feelings what ever it is and go with it! Let’s also not forget when someone wants something from us, they will be very charming, not the ugly creepy looking guy with the horns!


The thing that seems to be happening more and more is they will drug the male first the get him out of the way and then go for the woman. This is now happening to older women, newly divorced woman that haven’t been out for awhile. The main drug that will be used is GHB, Ketamine or Roofies. I really believe that the best way we can protect our loved ones is to teach them the dangers that can be involved with using drugs, or hanging out with the wrong people, or what’s the freakiest of all is, you are out minding your own business having fun with your friends and some sicko decides “He wants you!” You don’t know the guy and you have no warning that anyone is even around that is thinking about harming you. He has his little eye dropper bottle filled with whatever drug he chose for the occasion, and when you look away for just a second there he goes! Or maybe you go dance and your drink is on the table, there are all kinds of ways that they can get to you and your drink.

Fight to Save Life

Please read this comment that was put on my message board at the Voice of the Victims website! (Beth )

Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:46 pm Post subject: My sister's fight to save to her life

My sister is 44 with 3 children. She is at this time lying in an adult critical care unit from drinking the alcohol called everclear. She is in complete liver failure and her kidneys are shutting down.. Her eyes are yellow and bulging out. Yes, my sister is an alcoholic and it is true that no one poured the stuff down her throat, but if one person reads this and cries for her and my family then me taking the time to post this will have become effective in its goal. No one person deserves to die like this and no one ever should. We need to love, care and support each other everyday, just to survive. Thanks for reading this and I will update as possible any progress._________________fighting to help save my sisters life..

New Message

When someone loses a child or a friend, it is just such an incredible loss! It changes so many lives! At this time I would like to share some positive messages that I have received, then I will be writing about my experience as a normal regular person trying to make a difference and the frustration of the media and the people who could maybe help, that just won’t!

Please also check out my website and consider ordering the 2 DVD's for you and your loved ones! It could just save their lives!
Thank you,
Beth Pearce

www.Voiceofthevictims.com

Thank you to you Tyrone for this wonderful message:

Beth,
Read your article in the O.C.Register, bought your DVD, recorded your appearance on Cox channel 3, and still am hungry for info so I can join in your campaign to inform and save precious teenage lives! I am a single father of 2 teenagers. Your DVD came to my family at just the right time! There is a special place in heaven for people like you!

A most heart-felt THANK YOU!

Tyrone

Comments from Readers
I would like to post a few comments from you readers out there that I feel is important to put on the front page.

Here are the rules for the comment section:
1. If you want to share a comment, Please speak for yourself. You are invited to share your OWN feelings, NOT try to talk for everyone else.
2. Please be respectful!

Thank you,
Beth Pearce
Beth@voiceofthevictims.com

Thank you

Hi Beth,

This is Natasha Ritchie and a couple of weeks ago I received the video you sent me... which I really appreciated. I watched it twice and I cried so hard because it is so unbelievable how many people fall victims to such a dangerous drug. I have watched it with my family. I just wish that there was something that I could do to help because I feel like I should.

Thanks you for creating a video like this and those families who allowed you to share their stories. I think you will be saving a lot of lives. Again thanks so much. I will continue to show the video to anyone who needs to see it, or just to have a listen in on some of the most harmful drugs out there. God bless you Beth and keep doing what you do best, saving lives!

Sincerely,

Natasha

Comments from Readers

Here is a comment from a Professional in the field:

Subject: Drug Facilitated Rape

The take-home point should be for victims to be aware of the fact that they MAY have been drugged and that it MAY have been pre-meditated.

The faster they report the alleged sexual assault, the better the chance of identifying drugs that may have been involved and succeeding in an investigation and prosecution. Most drug facilitated sexual assault DO involve alcohol, but statistics indicate that sexual assaults related to ANY substance have increased drastically.

Furthermore, the involvement of women in orchestrating these assaults seems to be increasing. One might argue that the victims are reporting them more these days, but I can tell you that based on the audiences I speak to more and more YOUNG people are saying they are seeing it first hand – including men, even if more for the purpose of robbery.

I have been responding to sexual assaults for over a decade in a variety of roles – things are definitely worse. It doesn’t matter WHAT the substance – the level of pre-medication and no-harm-done mentality is what is truly horrifying.

Gwen 09.12.05 - 11:03 pm #

Ecstasy Rape In New York

From the Journal News, in Westchester Co., New York:

A married Ossining man raped a New Jersey woman over the weekend, after his girlfriend slipped a drug into the victim's drink, police said.

Kevin Nowell, 41, of 21 Stone Ave., Ossining, was charged yesterday with two felonies — first-degree rape and first-degree criminal sex act — in connection with the Sunday morning incident at the Beacon Hill Drive apartment of his 24-year-old girlfriend.

The girlfriend, Jessica Jacobson, was arrested Sunday after the victim told Dobbs Ferry police she had been sexually assaulted just before 2:30 that morning. The 23-year-old victim was a friend of Jacobson's who went to the apartment late Saturday night to hang out with her. Police said Jacobson invited her there so that Nowell could have sex with her.

Jacobson works as a gymnastics instructor for The Little Gym in Bedford. She was charged with facilitating a sex offense with a controlled substance, accused of putting Ecstasy into the woman's drink.

Nowell slapped her and pulled her hair as he raped and sodomized her after she became weak from the mixture of Ecstasy and alcohol, police said.

She called police after going to an emergency room for treatment.

Nowell, a home health-care nurse, faces up to 25 years and Jacobson up to seven years in state prison if convicted.

Ecstasy Use Drops In England

It appears that those of us who are concerned about the risks of designer drugs may be making headway. The Economist reports in its 9/3 issue:

According to the British Crime Survey, the proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds who used amphetamines in the previous 12 months fell from 12% in 1996 to 4% last year. Ecstasy has also become less popular, which is surprising given falling prices: in many places, a pill now costs less than a pint of beer.

"It's a fashion thing," says Matthew Atha, of the Independent Drug Monitoring Unit, which tracks drug users' preferences. He believes that young people are switching from illegal highs to legal ones as tastes change and messages about the dangers of ecstasy and other recreational drugs sink in.

Unfortunately, alcohol comes with its own risks, even though it's legal. Dr. Mike Ritter, who provides medical commentary in my film, worries more about alcohol's impact on young people than any other drug.

I included quite a bit of information on alcohol in the teen version of the film -- which currently is for sale at a reduced price in a back to school special.

Ecstasy-Halloway Connection?

When it was reported that a young woman was missing in Aruba, my first thought was, "I wonder if someone gave her GHB in order to rape her?" I wondered whether something had gone wrong, and whether the person who gave her the drug had done something with her body.

This week, the National Equirer tied Ecstasy to Natalee's disappearance in a way quite similar to what I've been thinking:

Dutch teenager Joran van der Sloot is terrified he and his family will be murdered if he confesses all he knows about the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.

The National Enquirer can reveal that police on Aruba are investigating this theory, which centers on whether narcotics dealers supplied Joran with the drug ecstasy, helped him get rid of Natalee's body — and told him he'd vanish forever if he didn't keep his mouth shut.

"Joran's statements have changed many times because he does not want police to find out who helped dispose of Natalee's body," said a source close to the case. "Police believe that people involved in getting rid of the body have threatened to murder Joran and his family if he ever names them." ...

As The National Enquirer reported last week, police theorize that Natalee died accidentally, possibly drowning after she fell and hit her head in a drug-induced stupor. Police also believe Joran confessed to his father that Natalee had taken ecstasy and when she died, Joran panicked and decided to get rid of the body. But he needed help — and knew where to find it.

"Joran is believed to be friends with a known ecstasy dealer in Aruba and police think that's where he got the drug," said the source.

"When Natalee died, Joran got in touch with the dealer. The theory is that the dealer had an incentive to dispose of her body so that police wouldn't trace the drugs back to him. But the dealer made it clear to Joran that if he talked he'd disappear too."

I've found another report that hold s out some hope that Natalee may still be alive. It, too, involves ecstasy, but this time, as a drug used to knock out women so they can be sold into sexual servitude. The story, on the Conspiracy Planet Web site, verifies one such case with the testimony of a U.S. Naval officer. The woman involved, Amy Bradley, is one of two that have gone missing after drinking at Carlos and Charlie's -- the same bar Natalee was seen at before her disappearance.

Here's what Conspiracy Planet says about Natalee:

Worldwide news reports say bartenders from Cancun to Aruba to Jamaica regularly spike the drinks of unsuspecting women with drugs such as Rohypnol (roofies) and GHB (liquid ecstasy) for the purpose of "date-rape," but reports also describe the increasing use of these drugs to place women in a submissive state to move them into position for transport to Caribbean island and South American brothels for indefinite periods for use as drugged prostitutes in known white slavery rings.

Leventhal said last night that the hotel manager of Aruba’s Holiday Inn-Sunspree Resort and Casino where Holloway stayed reported that all hotel security cameras were working properly.

But they do not verify the claims of the three men who said they returned Holloway to the Holiday Inn after driving her to the California lighthouse where one of the three said he "made out" and "was intimate" with Holloway while she was "intoxicated," according to Leventhal. ...

Other news reports also said Holloway was intoxicated; however, date-rape drugs are known to exhibit symptoms where individuals seem extremely intoxicated after consuming only a small amount of alcohol- more so than the amount ingested would warrant. ...

Late at night, Aruba’s California lighthouse could easily serve as a beacon to guide boats to the deserted beach to quickly drop off and pick up narcotics--but news show guests intimated for days that submissive females, possibly drugged by bartenders or other patrons at a popular club like Carlos and Charlie’s could be victims of sexual transport.

I'll keep you posted if anything new develops ...

I'm Back

Sorry for the absence. I've been thinking about changes to my main Web site in order to encourage more people to purchase my films on the dangers of ecstasy, ketamine and alcohol, and of making changes to the blog.

Maybe you'll see some changes in the days ahead!

Why Do I Do What I Do? Two

This quote, from a high school student at pretty much sums it up:

"One out of a million may not seem like a lot, if you're counting pennies. But by saving one person, you have hundreds of others from grief and suffering. I am inspired."

Prescription Drug Abuse Takes Off

Use of prescription drugs like OxyContin is increasing. Here's a good summary, from the Washington Times:

The number of Americans abusing prescription drugs nearly doubled from 7.8 million in 1992 to 15.1 million in 2003, according to the report [from Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse]. Prescription-drug abuse also has become more widespread than abuse of illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin and hallucinogens combined, which numbered 12.3 million in 2003.

The most popular prescription drugs were opioids, which are painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet. ... Partly to blame for the increase, Mr. Califano said, is the widespread availability of prescription drugs on the Internet. In 2004, the research firm Beau Dietl & Associates found that only 6 percent of Web sites selling prescription drugs required a prescription.

The number of 12-to-17-year olds abusing prescription drugs increased 212 percent in the 11 years CASA examined, while the number of adults abusing prescription drugs increased 81 percent, according to the study.

"For many kids, the family medicine cabinet has become a greater temptation and a greater threat than illegal street drugs," said Mr. Califano, who served under President Carter as the secretary of health, education and welfare. He said many young people assume prescription drugs are safe because they are "a good clean pill in a nice clean bottle."

But in 2002, controlled prescription drugs were responsible for 29.9 percent of drug-related emergency-room deaths.

GHB Serial Killers In Florida?

Police in Florida are investigating what appears to be as many as seven murders in which saddistic murders were carried out on victims drugged with GHB. The Bradenberg Herald reports:

TAMPA - From the outside, Steven Lorenzo seemed a perfect fit for Seminole Heights, a historic riverside neighborhood where front-porch friendliness still flourishes under moss-draped oaks.

The electrician and home inspector often sat on his veranda, ready with a smile or helping hand. He lent his tools and home-repair skills. He rescued one neighbor's cats from the pound and another neighbor's house from a fire. ...

But inside his meticulously restored 1928 bungalow, investigators say, Lorenzo turned tormenter, drugging, raping and torturing men he met at gay bars or on the Internet. At least seven reported escaping with their lives. But two others who vanished in December 2003 apparently didn't, finally spotlighting the disappearances of three other Tampa Bay-area gay men.

One of Lorenzo's Internet chat buddies, an Illinois native who briefly lived in Orlando, recently told police that he helped Lorenzo kill and dispose of the two men's bodies, dismembering one in Lorenzo's garage.

Today, Lorenzo, 46, and Scott Schweickert, 39, are being held without bail in Hillsborough County Jail, accused by federal authorities of drug-assisted crimes of violence. Lorenzo's charming cottage on West Powhatan Avenue remains the focus of an ever-widening, multistate probe that has yielded horrific clues about what might have happened behind closed doors.

The most telling evidence - DNA analysis of bloodstains found on wood floors and cobblestones in the garage - could answer the question that haunts the families and friends of Tampa Bay's missing gay men: What happened to their loved ones? ...

Neither man has been charged with murder. But indictments are expected soon, contingent on the DNA results Nielsen and the mothers of at least two other missing men and three other police departments anxiously await. ...

Then, in 2002, federal drug agents visited Lorenzo for buying on the Internet a solvent used to make gamma hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB, commonly known as a "date-rape drug."

Again, Lorenzo was questioned but not arrested.

But, after the town-hall meeting, police and federal drug agents actively began investigating Lorenzo in the reported assaults. Serving a search warrant on his house a year ago June, they found photographs and videos of numerous men in various stages of bondage, some who appeared to be in "a comatose-like state." ...

Why Do I Do What I Do?

Rick Moore posted this comment to the post below:

I wondered how you got involved in this area. Thanks for reprinting the article - I must have missed it when it first came out in the Register. Good luck with this valuable ministry.

Here's what I posted back to him:

Hi Rick,

How did I do this? With a lot of guts and a lot of heart!

When I read in the paper what happened to Erin Rose, I just couldn't believe these things were happening to our kids!! I knew someone had to do something real and different. Being "Just a Mom" all I knew was that the kids and the parents need to see and feel what's happening in the hopes it will help their kids.

What better way to do that than to go see these families and let them tell their stories for everyone else to learn from? I kept this a self-funded documentary, so it could stay pure! All of the families were free to say whatever they wanted. I think it was worth the cost.

You see, what really scares me, and many of the parents too, is when we think about the future for all of the teens and young adults who choose to take ecstasy, ketamine, GHB, oxy-contin, DXM and the list goes on and on.

These drugs seem to take them much quicker, either with death or other problems.

I think all of us as a society should be very concerned about this! How many will be on SSI for life and other aid, because they can no longer funtion, not to mention all the other resourses needed to help rehabilitate?

This is a big problem that, until people see it for what it really is, will only get worse. I don't want millions to die or be maimed for life before anyone cares. I say we need to care now to help prevent tragedies.

THAT'S WHY I DO WHAT I DO!!

Thank you so very much for asking!!

Beth

Allow Me To Introduce Myself

There's been a lot said recently in the comments section about what I'm doing and why, and it is sadly off the mark. I'm just a mom trying to help parents understand that the drug world has changed since they were kids, trying to help kids understand that it's best to understand the risks involved with your choice-making, including whether you choose to use drugs.

Rather than repeating all this again myself, I'm presenting a lengthy article on me and my films that appeared in the Orange County Register in Feb., 2004.

SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT: A NEW VOICE

By Theresa Walker

It all started two years ago, the morning Beth Pearce's husband clipped the newspaper article about Erin Rose and put it on her chair to see before she headed to work.

Laer Pearce wanted her to read the story of the Laguna Niguel teen's overdose on a drug called ketamine, and the brain damage it caused.

They have three daughters of their own, two still in their teens and one not quite there yet. He had never heard of this drug and was sure his wife hadn't either. Had their daughters?

Beth Pearce cried reading how ketamine -- the kids call it ``Special K,'' like the cereal -- stopped the flow of oxygen to Rose's brain for eight minutes and left her comatose for two weeks.

It shocked her to learn how seven months later, when Rose's story ran in the paper, this drug that is used by veterinarians to tranquilize large animals and in burn wards as an anesthetic turned the clock back nearly to toddlerhood for the once bright and athletic 18-year-old.

Rose couldn't walk straight, couldn't speak clearly, couldn't remember how to do the simplest things, like telling time.

"I thought, I can't believe this is happening to our children,'' Pearce says.

She held that thought on the 20-minute drive from their home in Coto de Caza to her husband's public-relations firm, where she helps with the accounting.

There might be other kids out there who would end up like Rose, or worse. There must be other parents out there who never heard of this drug. Somebody needs to do something, she told herself.

Who?

By the time she got to work, she decided: me.

She would get the word out to as many people as possible. After more thought, she determined the best way was to produce a video and let the victims tell the story.

What did it matter that she knew nothing about filmmaking? That she had no recording equipment and wouldn't know how to use it if she did? A sense of urgency and commitment can carry you a long way, past doubt and inexperience.

Laer Pearce didn't blanch at his wife's proposal. Even though she's the kind of person who has trouble putting film in a camera, she also is a quick study who throws herself completely into a project.

The image of coming home one afternoon and finding Beth standing outside their home with an air compressor, a 20-foot extension pole and a breathing apparatus covering her mouth and nose as she painted the outside of their house crossed Laer Pearce's mind.

"She does that kind of stuff. She's just not afraid.''

The energy this woman, who describes herself as "just a mom,'' once put into hanging wallpaper, sewing quilts and raising money for her children's schools, she channeled into producing her documentary, "Voice of the Victims: True Stories of Ecstasy and Ketamine.''

Making the video carried her into the life of Erin Rose, who is now like a fourth daughter to her. It carried her, too, into the short-circuited lives of three other teens who weren't lucky enough to be left with a brain injury like Rose.

They died.

She ended up charging $160,000 on her credit cards to produce the two DVD versions of "Voice of the Victims,'' one for parents and one for youths.

Even for a woman who drives a leased Porsche Targa, those American Express bills are daunting.

"We are in so much debt,'' she says.

Again, her husband -- who had to downsize his company by two-thirds just three years ago -- didn't blink at the bills.

"I figured if God had wanted us to do this, we would get out of debt. If God wants us to struggle with debt, we'll struggle with debt. It seemed to me there was a higher purpose here.''

Beth Pearce hopes her dedication will carry the voices of the victims into people's living rooms. She wants to reach kids with a message they won't laugh at or mock.

Not to preach, but to let them hear from Rose and her mom, Maryanne Rose. From the parents and sister of Cathy Isford, 18, a Foothill High senior who took "ecstasy'' the night of her prom, lapsed into a coma and died two days later in May 2002.

And from the parents of two Chicago- area teens whose deaths Beth Pearce read about on the Internet: Steven Lorenz, 17, and a girl identified only by her first name, Sara.

"Let them see what can happen and make up their minds while they still have a mind and a life,'' she says, holding up a copy of the DVD and shaking it like a preacher would a Bible.

Since she started marketing "Voice of the Victims'' in January, Pearce has sold about 50 of the 3,000 copies she had made. For now, they are available at $19.95 through a Web site.

In a downstairs room with flowered wallpaper where she set up her video operation -- once a playroom, later a homework room for her girls -- Pearce wrote the names of people and organizations she wants to contact: first lady Laura Bush, Focus on the Family, Oprah Winfrey, the Boy Scouts of America. "Good Morning America'' has shown interest, she says.

She appeared on Hugh Hewitt's radio show in December, and is taping spots to be aired on upcoming segments of the syndicated "Spread a Little Love Around'' show, which runs weeknights on Christian radio station KWVE/107.9 FM.

Pearce intends to educate the parents who don't have a clue, and to redirect those who are so misinformed as to think that since kids are going to experiment with drugs no matter what, it might as well be with a "safe'' drug like ecstasy rather than something hardcore like cocaine or heroin.

"Voice of the Victims'' is being released at a time when overall drug use by teens has dropped. Last year, a bellwether national survey that tracks illicit drug use among 8th-, 10th- and 12th-graders reported a decrease by more than half in the proportion of teens who reported using ecstasy between 2001 and 2003.

It's true, too, that the number of emergency room visits and deaths related to the use of ecstasy and ketamine are dwarfed by those involving use of such drugs as cocaine, heroin and marijuana, or alcohol in combination with other substances.

Still there are indications that abuse of ecstasy and ketamine remain a problem.

While no statistics are available for Orange County, the federal agency that tracks drug abuse related emergency- room incidents reported an increase in the number of visits in the Los Angeles and Long Beach area involving ketamine use, up from seven in 1999 to 52 in 2002. Ecstasy related emergency-room visits for the same area more than tripled, from 52 in 1999 to 176 in 2002. Last year the Partnership for a Drug-Free America reported that a majority of adolescents don't see any risk in taking ecstasy.

Pearce is trying to show kids and parents that there is a risk. Maybe people will cry when they watch "Voice of the Victims,'' like Pearce did when she read about Erin Rose, or like Maryanne Rose did when listening to Sara's mom tell how her daughter died. A male friend of Sara's, later imprisoned, secretly laced a glass of water with four extra doses of the ecstasy she had freely taken earlier. He wanted her pliant, to rape her.

"It affected me, and I've been through a lot,'' says Maryanne Rose, who along with Erin, speaks at schools and other organizations around the community. "I mean, I cried during Sara's story.''

David Lorenz, a three-pack-a-day Teamsters truck driver who smoked pot in his youth, hopes that the stories of Erin, Cathy, Sara and his son, Steven, will do more than make people cry.

A single father raising three boys, Lorenz had no idea that his skateboard-loving son was doing drugs. A week or two before Steven died, Lorenz had found a pill in his room and confronted him. His son lied and said it belonged to a friend. Lorenz counseled him and thought that was that.

"He went out and did it one more time,'' Lorenz says, "and that was all it took.''

Steven thought he was taking ecstasy the night of May 7, 2000. But it was a lookalike sold to him by a friend -- the potent hallucinogenic paramethoxyamphetamine, or PMA. The fatal dose shot Steven's temperature to 108 degrees, frying him from the inside out until he looked like a shriveled up old man to his father when he died.

"I don't want it to just be sad,'' Lorenz says, the weariness from his efforts to make a difference evident in his raspy voice. "I want it to be a learning lesson.''

USING HERSELF AS AN EXAMPLE

Erin Rose wears two frayed red cloth bands, one on each wrist along with her crystal bracelets and her watch. They are the wristbands kids get at school during Red Ribbon Week. "Drug Use is Life Abuse,'' they read.

She won't take them off. She used to wear the same kind of bands back when she was doing drugs. She thought that was funny, then. Now, she takes them seriously.

"I just wish the young people out there could realize what can happen,'' she says.

She can't pronounce her R's properly, so she sounds like a 4-year-old saying it.

Rose is visiting Beth Pearce on a Friday afternoon. She's come to spend the weekend, something she started doing back in December when she was up to overnight stays away from home.

For nearly three years, Rose has spent her time trying to regain all that she lost the third time she took ketamine. She had to learn how to breathe on her own again. How to walk. How to talk. How to take a shower. How to dress herself.

She still has trouble with her balance and falls now and then. Pearce helps her come down the stairs, like you would someone far older or younger. Rose's small- motor skills are so shot, she has difficulty writing. She once had such beautiful handwriting, her mother says.

She still goes to occupational and speech therapy. Rose, 20, attends a half-day program for the brain-injured at Coastline Community College in Costa Mesa. The other day she broke into frustrated tears trying to do third-grade multiplication and division.

Someday, she hopes to further her education at a four-year college. She wants to study about drugs, she says, so she can teach kids what she learned the hard way.

Rose was always smart, always good in sports. But she was emotionally troubled, too, Maryanne Rose says. She would get depressed. She became bulimic.

She smoked pot, drank and experimented with other drugs. Her family tried all sorts of interventions. Her mother was on the verge of kicking her out of the house when she got the call early one Saturday morning that Erin was in the emergency room. The next day was Mother's Day.

Erin doesn't remember anything about the night she overdosed -- or even weeks before that. But it's her short-term memory and her ability to make decisions that suffer the most. Doing the laundry can confuse her. Beth Pearce tried to teach her by drawing red lines on the washing machine dial so Rose would know where to set it.

The Pearce household is becoming a second home to her. She says Beth Pearce is like "a best friend.''

Rose is sitting with Pearce in the editing room, one of her favorite photographs filling the computer monitor behind her. It was taken a few months before she overdosed -- she's at school, surrounded by some of her cousins and her friends. She is smiling, her reddish-blond hair pulled back behind one ear.

Rose thinks she looked "cool'' back then. Not anymore. She says as much in "Voice of the Victims.''

As she did with all four teens, Pearce incorporates in the video photographs of Rose as a child and in her adolescence to drive home who she was, what she lost.

There's a snapshot of Rose as a girl in her soccer uniform, her hair tied back with ribbons. There's Rose as a teen in a long dress, her hair done up for a formal dance.

And there's up-close video of Rose at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, tubes running up her nose, eyes closed. Comatose. Her mother shot it. She wanted Rose's sister and brother and cousins and friends to see her like that. She wanted them to know what could happen.

Rose says she gets sick of repeating the story of what happened to her. Because it's frustrating to think about how her life changed so dramatically. But she feels compelled to tell it. "Voice of the Victims'' lets her do that on a much broader scale.

"I just want to get my voice out there. So does Beth. We just want to save so many people.''

To Glen Stanley, a narcotics detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and an expert in drugs like ketamine and ecstasy, the painful stories told by Erin Rose and the families gives "Voice of the Victims'' its greatest impact.

"I can stand up in front of a group of 300 kids and talk all day about how bad drugs are for you, and half those kids are going to turn me off because, one, I'm twice their age, and, two, I'm a cop,'' says Stanley, who is among the voices of authority Pearce includes in her video. "Erin gets up there and you can hear a pin drop.''

"She can say, 'I was like you, and now look at me.' There isn't anything more powerful than that.'' Stanley plans to use "Voice of the Victims'' in talks he gives at schools and to parents.

"I think it will help fill a void. I see it as a real good icebreaker, a way to get your kids to sit down and talk about drugs without you having to sit down face to face and go, 'Are you using drugs?' You can ask questions like, what do you think about that, do you know any kids at school who are doing that -- without it being an interrogation.''

Until she made "Voice of the Victims,'' Pearce hadn't talked to her girls about drugs.

"Having daughters herself,'' Stanley says, "it's very easy for her to see her daughters in Erin's place. I think that scares her -- and would a lot of parents.''

LEARN-AS-YOU-GO PROJECT

Beth Pearce spent hours that sometimes stretched into days editing "Voice of the Victims.'' For the last six months of production, she moved her operation from her husband's offices to the downstairs room in her house. The video had taken over her life, and she didn't want to be gone from home anymore.

In June, she had to start all over again re-editing around 20 hours of raw footage when her computer crashed and she lost the work she had done to that point.

By then she was working pretty much on her own. She had hired a good cameraman to shoot the footage, but the video editors were taking too long. So she decided to do it herself, using the digital video-editing guide "Premiere 6.5 for Dummies.''

From the start, "Voice of the Victims'' was a learn-as-you-go project. She researched her topic and found the people she needed to talk to on the Internet, a source she had never really explored before.

"I kept double-clicking and double-clicking. I'd find something, print it out and take it upstairs to read on my bed, making notes to call this person, that person.''

She didn't really have a set plan when she began. And that made it better, she thinks. "I went out and listened to the people. I just went out and listened.''

At the beginning, she was reluctant to call the families, worried about upsetting them more. She enlisted her brother-in- law, a police officer in Fresno, to make contact, figuring he would have more experience in dealing with people who lost loved ones.

"I was afraid they wouldn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to bring up the whole, horrible subject again.''

But they were more than willing to talk, because Pearce was so willing to listen. And they wanted other people to know what had happened to their children.

"We can't save our children. They're gone,'' Lorenz says. "We're trying to help other people. That's what it's all about. It just seems like nobody really cares. There are some people out there that care, but not enough. There are a few Beths, and people who have lost their kids.''

Pearce enlisted the aid of Dr. Mike Ritter, assistant director of the emergency room at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, where he sees firsthand the damage that drugs like ecstasy and ketamine can do.

Ritter, who appears in "Voice of the Victims,'' spends a lot of time educating the community on drug use by talking to parents and teens. Pearce heard him speak at Dana Hills High.

Ritter gets the sense that most parents still don't know much about these drugs, despite concerns that grew out of the rave and club scenes over the past few years, and stories in the news, like the death of Cathy Isford. Kids, however, seem to be more sophisticated about using them -- following advice available on the Internet, he says.

"It's kind of intriguing. I'm not seeing as many kids in the emergency room with ecstasy- related problems, but when I talk to kids they're still using it.''

Ritter says kids are simply unaware of the long-term effects of taking ecstasy. Scientific studies have shown that the drug damages the serotonin receptors in the brain, which control our moods, causing a chemical imbalance that leads to depression.

Taking ecstasy is like taking a form of Prozac, he says. It makes you feel energetic, happy. The problem is when it leaves your system, you feel depressed. So you take more ecstasy, a vicious cycle.

"Some experts are concerned that it's going to create a whole generation of depressed adults. But trying to pitch that to a teenager is very difficult. To say that they're going to be depressed down the road, they're like, what are you talking about? I feel great.''

If they make it that far. One more time can turn into the last time -- a message that "Voice of the Victims'' underscores.

Earlier in high school, Cathy Isford took ecstasy and other party drugs, but along with her fiancé, she stayed clean for about two years, looking forward to marrying, having kids and becoming a schoolteacher. Until prom night. She secretly told her older sister that she was going to take ecstasy one more time, to make her prom experience perfect.

The combination of the ecstasy and a few alcoholic drinks killed her.

Pearce showed "Voice of the Victims'' to a group of teens before completing the project, to see if it had the kind of impact she hoped. She asked the kids to write their opinions anonymously afterward.

"Some friends of mine used to go to raves & take ecstasy. They told me that ecstasy was one of the safest drugs you could take -- this made me realize differently,'' one wrote. "I liked Cathys story the most. It touched me because she had so much clean time -- then one night ended her life.''

Caitlyn Topper, 15, also saw that early screening. She started doing drugs when she was about 13, developed a substance-abuse problem, and got sent away to rehab. She played water polo on the varsity team at her school. She used to have a good reputation. She used to have scholarships in the works.

"It's all ruined,'' she says. "If I had seen this video, I think I wouldn't have taken those extreme drugs. I think I would have kept the caution with me.''

Caitlyn, who lives in Coto de Caza and is a friend of Pearce's daughter, Christina, met Erin Rose. What happened to Rose stays with her now, and she believes it would stay with other kids, too.

"It's sad to see that person that she was before. You know that she's crying out for that. You can't stop kids from doing what they're going to do, but you can show them what the consequences will be.''

That's what Beth Pearce is trying to do.

I hope this answers some of the unfounded criticisms put on in this site's comment section. I never say in my film that ecstasy is hugely dangerous. I never give any statistics, misleading or otherwise. Dr. Ritter is quoted in the film about the effects of the drug, and as you can see, he believes there are risks involved, but his experience in the ER shows other drugs to be more dangerous.

He asked me to include a section on alcohol, which kills far more young people than ecstasy, and I did. I care about saving lives, not about attacking a particular drug.

I wanted to give parents who had suffered unspeakable losses a way to speak about those losses. I wanted to give them a sense of purpose for their childrens' lives and deaths. I've done this, and they have become wonderful friends in the process.

I do not deserve criticism or ugliness, no matter how well intentioned it might be.

I do want and need your support and prayers. I want very much to make a film about GHB, DXM and ALCOHOL. I want to make one about huffing (inhalants). I've talked to parents who have suffered through the death of their children because of these drugs, and I want to give them a voice, just as I gave the parents of Sara, Cathy, Steven and my beloved Erin voices.

My husband and I are not going to go more in debt to make the next films, however. If you would like to support me in this effort, please consider buying the Voice of the Victims films. Here are links to the both the Young Adult and Parent editions, so you can see what is in them. Here is the order page.

Thank you so very much!

Beth Pearce
Voice of the Victims
Founder/Producer/Director/Editor etc.

p.s. I just received this very affirming e-mail from Gwen, who has left some excellent comments lately on the blog. She is an expert in matters relate to drug use, abuse and addiction.

There is a new study* out that says drug awareness campaigns do not work for ecstasy. I have always said that, which is why I stopped doing lectures -- talk to a drug user and see what they laugh at – DARE especially. The study says that the majority of people KNOW ecstasy carries risks, but that's not important until they or their friends have an adverse reaction, or their doctor enlightens them. That's why I like YOUR videos and approach. You bring it as close to having a friend go through it as possible - you bring the audience INTO the life of an everyday teen we can all relate to and then add quality MEDICAL advice. No police and no government!!!

Gwen

* Is Ecstasy Perceived As Safe? A Critical Survey, Alex Gamma, Lisa Jerome, Matthias E. Liechty, Harry R. Sumnall. Peer reviewed and published in Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence #77, 2005

In Loving Memory of Kyle Hagmann

I never met Kyle Hagmann, but I've met his family, and I love them all. Now I feel really close to Kathy Profitt too, who was his girlfriend. This is Kathy's story about Kyle.

Note: When Kathy wrote this, Kathy and Kyle's family thought Kyle may have taken GHB himself. It took a year and a half for them to find out that the drug was given to Kyle without his knowledge. His college wanted his murder to be swept under the rug.

In Loving Memory of
Kyle Hagmann

No, this e-mail will not give you bad luck, good luck, or erase your hard drive, but it might just save your life.

My name is Kathy Proffitt and Kyle Hagmann was my boyfriend who passed away on April 24, 1999 due to a GHB (Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate) overdose. Other names for this drug are Jib, Blue Nitro, Liquid Ecstasy, and Firewater. There are so many different names I can not even keep up with them. Kyle was a 4.0 junior at California Lutheran University who had a bright future ahead of him in Sports Medicine. Because of GHB, his future, our future, no longer exists.

Some of you know Kyle well and others have not even heard of his name, but for me, his family, and close friends, we deal with the loss of Kyle everyday. I want to try to spare other people from going through this type of tragedy and pain. That is why I am starting this chain letter. Before Kyle's death I really had no idea what GHB really was, now I do. Kyle did not really know what GHB was either. He looked it up on the Internet and all he got was lies. On the Internet this drug is promoted to seem like the perfect drug. Supposedly, there are no side effects. What the Internet claims is that you can get a really good night sleep, use it to party with and not have a hangover, and it also is supposed to be a muscle builder. Well, I do not know about you, but being in a coma, having seizures, and death seem like pretty important side effects to me. I guess the promoters just forgot to mention these things. You might get a good night sleep using GHB but it may end up being for eternity. You also cannot feel a hangover when you are in a coma and GHB has never really been proven to actually build muscles. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Now here is the truth about GHB. GHB is made from floor stripper and drain cleaner which becomes a central nervous system depressant. Death, coma, seizures and vomiting are all just a few side effects. The sleep that GHB puts you in is so deep that you might wet your bed because you can not wake up to use the bathroom. You can not hear the phone ring, a fire alarm, or even your own baby crying. You become completely incoherent. GHB has recently been classified as a class 1 drug. That compares it to cocaine and heroin. With GHB in the same category as these two drugs shows how serious GHB really is.

Please do not think that any of this can not happen to you because if it can happen to a wonderful person like Kyle, then it can happen to you. If you have already used GHB or are currently using it and have had good experiences, just remember, next time you take a cap full or two could be your last.

I am now asking you to please pass this letter on to everyone you know so that if they are ever faced with the choice of using GHB, they now have a few of the facts about how dangerous and deadly GHB really is. If you know of anybody using GHB, just imagine that person having a seizure, or lying in a coma, or even finding them dead the next morning. Please help me spread the word about GHB!

DO NOT LET A TRAGEDY HAPPEN TO YOU BEFORE YOU LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT GHB. LEARN THE TRUTH NOW AND PREVENT THE TRAGEDY.

For more information on GHB, visit www.projectghb.org

R.I.P. Kyle, I am taking care of it. I will love you forever. Kathy

Thanks, Kathy! Remember, Kyle didn't willingly take GHB -- it was slipped to him by his roommate, who wanted their dorm room to himself so he could be with a girl.

Please forward this post to lots and lots of people you care about! And please, if you haven't bought my Voice of the Victims films, please consider buying them now. Sales will help finance my next film, which will tell Kyle's story. I've already interviewed his mom and sister, and all I need now is your support!

Suppliers In Sian's Death Get Warning

The two boys who gave Sian Sadler the ecstasy that killed her got off with a warning, according to the Manchester (England) evening news:

Two teenagers arrested after the death of a woman thought to have taken an ecstasy tablet have been cautioned. The pair, aged 18 and 19, were arrested after Sian Sadler, 18, from Alderley Edge collapsed after a night out at the Sankeys Soap nightspot in Manchester city centre. Sian died in April after paramedics were called to an address in Wilmslow when she became ill. The teenagers were cautioned for possession.

What a tragedy. From all I know, there was no intent involved, but in many jurisdictions, death as the result of the administration of an illegal drug is a prosecutable and serious offense.

My film profiles kids who died from Ecstasy, including Sara, who's death reminds me of Sian's. View a preview here.

Tainted Ecstasy In Ireland

For those of you who argue that designer drugs are safe if taken carefully, here's a new type of Ecstasy you need to avoid. I wonder how you'd know these sorts of "bad ecstasy" were around if not for sites like these, that report stories like this:

From the Irish News (June 20):

Police last night issued a warning about ecstasy tablets following the death of a 26-year-old man in Co Antrim.

The man, who is believed to be from the Lisburn area, was admitted to Lagan Valley Hospital and died after allegedly taking an unknown number of tablets known as snowballs.

Police in Lisburn said the tablets, which bear a snowball motif, were also believed to have been taken by a number of other people who were treated for symptoms in hospital throughout yesterday.

They reportedly suffered symptoms such as changes to their heart rate, a feeling that they were on the verge of collapse, drowsiness or a desire to sleep.

Stay safe. Your kids need to be educated about the risk of mislabed Ecstasy. It's discussed in the Parent Edition of my film, and in the story of Steven, who died after taking PMA, a very dangerous Ecstasy replacement drug.

Minneapolis Drug Deaths

Hazelton, the drug treatment center, has released a study on 2004 drug use in Minnesota's Twin Cities area, including this information on drug deaths:

Opiate-related accidental overdose deaths outnumbered those for any other illicit drug with 72 in 2004 (compared with 49 for cocaine, 20 for meth, and 8 for MDMA -- "ecstasy").

The full report is available through Hazelton.

I Almost Died From XTC

I received this letter on the message board of my Voice of the Victims web site. It's long, but it's about a life almost cut short by Ecstasy, and it's worth reading and sharing.

here is my story..

I first did the drug xtc when I was 14 years old. I didn't know how hard of a drug it was until I took it.. but by then I liked it so much I never wanted to stop. I did it for about 3 years and a half frequently, during that time I've had panic attacks attacks to where I felt like I was going to die, I've blacked out, I've vomited a lot, or I can just say I had lots of bad trips. But I can't lie it was really fun.. I made so many friends and I just felt so alive. October 2004 I was expelled for giving selling student ecstasy who had got sick, that was another bad experience I had with X.. the cops were telling me that if i didn't fess up that she might have died and I would be charged for man slaughter.. So, I stoped E for about 2 months because my probation officer was watching me really close. I finally started Continuation school.

This year January 3,2005.. I took E with a girl I met. We split it half & half. 50 mins went by I didn't feel anything.. So, I was thinking to myself this isn't going to do anything.. normally it kicks in within 25 minutes. So, that day I decided to cut school early and just go smoke some pot at the park with 2 of my guy friends. I started feeling really shaky and nervous.. I thought my teeth were grinding and I was walking to the water fountain drinking a lot of water. They saw I was starting to tweek out and they left. Luckily I made it home. I went in my room and locked the door, I thought I was just going to sleep it off and I had one of those big leater bottles of water drinking it. I think I drank about 2. I was vomiting on the side of my bed, everything was starting to blur out, my back and spine started to feel really, really tense. I started freaking out. Finally my brother came in the room, he was wondering why I raced in so fast and didn't say anything. I was yelling at him "get out" then he saw all the water I was throwing up.. he was fighting with me over the water bottle. He was asking me what I took and I told him I only had a beer but he didn't belive it. All of a sudden I colapsed.. After that it was a big blur. I can faintly remember being took the ambulance and someone was asking me what I took but I could hear then but I was so out of it I couldn't answer. I remember people sticking tubes down my throat and knose and throwing up black stuff. They shoved liquid charcol down my throat to absorb what I took and pumped it back up. I was grinding my teeth for 8 hours straight. Finally after about 20 hours of doing test they found out what was wrong with me. I had drank too much water and my sodium level was low which makes you retain water to the back of your brain. During that time I had a fever of 105.. My heart beat went really low. I didn't wake up until 4 days later. When I woke up my mom, family, friends, boyfriend was there. My mom looked like she was half way dead. They started asking me questions like whats 5 + 5 to make sure I wasn't fried. My head hurt for about 2 weeks straight after that non-stop. They said I was one of the wrost xtc cases they have ever had.

Now it's 6 months later. I still have head trama. I wake up in the middle of the night and my pupils dialate, my whole body feels numb, and i have panic attacks. I tell myself I will never touch that drug again but in the back of my mind I still want to but I know it's not worth it. I wish I would remember all of what happend to me. My uncle told me he never saw anyone so close to dieing before (keep in mind my uncle has seen a lot of people messed up on drugs, he's done pretty much every drug there is when he was younger.) I can't put my family and friends through that again. XTC makes me you feel like you're on top of the world, when people tell you they don't want you to do it you bc you may die.. you think they're just trying to ruin you're good time and there jealous bc there not having fun. But, most the time they are looking out for you. You always think it will never happen to you. You say you'll only do it a certain number of times more, but the FACT is you never know where you're going to get a bad pill, have a bad reaction, dehydrate, drink too much water. It's like you're rolling a dice waiting to get doubles. You can die the 1st time you take E, the 2nd, 3rd, or the 100th. From my experience I'd say don't take the chance of making it the next time you do it.

The stupidest thing I ever thought is that I'd be ok when I was sick from it. To people who do E, always be around someone that WILL take you to a hospital if you get sick. Never think that you'll be ok if you feel like something is seriously wrong with you. Some people it takes a near death experience to get it through there head. It's great but it's not worth your life.

Update: How true is here experience? How common? Too true, too common, but that's not really even the point. The point is that there is risk, and there is a lack of appreciation of that risk, as you can see as you read the comments to this post. I suggest you counterbalance those comments by viewing my film. I'd appreciate it if you would buy it, so I can make my next film (on GHB, dex and alcohol), but here's the link to the previews.

GHB Rape Conviction in Toronto

Please share this story with women you know because education is the most powerful tool we have to combat drug-assisted rape. The three women sexually assaulted by the despicable man are victims of a vile man who is content to abuse and harm innocent women for his selfish, immediate lusts. Let's pray for a long sentence for this guy!

As reported in the Toronto Sun:

A WEALTHY Toronto businessman who plied three vulnerable women with wine spiked with a date rape drug to satisfy his lust was found guilty yesterday by a jury.

Alexo Orphanou, 42, was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and one count of administering a stupefying drug to commit sexual assault in 2002 against three women, now aged 21, 24 and 30.

"He found women he could target, invited them back to an empty office under the guise of doing a legitimate wine survey, then plied them with alcohol and GHB," Crown attorney Erin Pancer said.

None of the victims knew each other, but all of them told eerily similar accounts of first being interviewed by the accused for telemarketing jobs. Later, he invited them to conduct a wine-tasting survey for $50 after office hours.

Each felt weakened and dizzy and Orphanou massaged, stripped and sexually assaulted them on a pullout couch in his Eglinton Ave. office. ...

"When the women were incapacitated, he had his way with them," Spratt said. "These women don't know each other, yet all of their evidence seems so incredibly similar."

GHB Victims In Quebec

One of the problems with designer drugs is that they are manufactured illicitly, with little or no quality control. Another is that they are often in the hands of irresponsible people. Put that combination together, and you can get this, as reported by the Canadian Press:

A 24-year-old man will appear in court Thursday to face drug charges in relation to the intoxication of eight nightclubbers who were hospitalized after ingesting a mysterious substance.

The accused, from St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., will be charged with possession of an illegal substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Six of the eight people, aged 18 to 26, were hospitalized May 21 after taking GHB, also known as the date-rape drug. The other two consumed too much alcohol.

Four of the men had been in the intensive care unit, one after suffering a heart attack.

According to police, the accused consumed GHB with a friend and then put it in the glasses of the other people.

Ecstasy: The Love Drug?

Mark Hobson will spend the rest of his life in prison because, to quote his own excuse, he was high on Ecstasy, alcohol and other drugs when he murdered four people.

First was his wife, whom he hit in the head 17 times with a hammer. Quoting from the Guardian:

Hobson told police he had taken a cocktail of drugs including cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and alcohol and could remember nothing about his girlfriend's death. He claimed to have lost a day and a half and come round with a bloodstained hammer in his hand.

Later, he lured his sister-in-law into a trap, molested her viciously, and killed her. Then he murdered an elderly couple in a town 25 miles away.

Ecstasy frequently shows up in the blood or the confessions of people who have murdered deliberately or killed by causing car accidents. Admittedly, Hobson only blamed drugs for the first murder, and admittedly, he is not your typical designer drug user. But the myth that Ecstasy is all about love and good feelings is just that: A myth. Ecstasy is just a drug, not some magic potion. It alters the brain chemistry, and that can, and periodically does, lead to all sorts of unintended consequences.

Wet?! Ugh!

While researching stories for my blog, I came across a story on crime in Camden, NJ, which mentioned how the drug trade and crime went hand in hand, and that one of the popular new drugs was "Wet," marijuana dipped in embalming fluid.

It makes me wonder ... was someone just sitting around with some embalming fluid and say, "I wonder if this will make you high?" Or is the drug marketing industry just up to its usual terrible business?

Pop Star Pink Nearly A Ketamine Death

The London Daily News reports that popular recording star Pink almost had no career at all, since she nearly died at 15 from a "drug cocktail" containing Ketamine, Ecstasy and a host of other drugs. It was enough for her, she said; now she has "no interest whatsoever" in drugs.

THE pop singer Pink nearly died after overdosing on a cocktail of drugs including ketamine when she was 15.

The traumatic experience, i n which she also took crystal meth, angel dust, Ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana, shocked her into turning away from drugs.

Pink, 25, whose real name is Alecia Moore, ... said that she became surrounded by drugs such as ketamine when she joined the club scene in her home town of Philadelphia but ' wouldn ' t recommend it to anybody'.

She added: 'I came close to death so many times. I guess my parents are happy I didn't end up on a street corner somewhere or lying in the dirt.

'I got everything out of my system when I was 13, 14, 15, and now I have no interest whatsoever.'

"Love Bombs" Target Youngsters

Here's some very distressing news from an undercover probe of nightclubs that ran in England's News of the World:

... the most shocking aspect of our probe was the targeting of pre-teen kids.

Called "Love Bombs", the tablets look like heart-shaped sweets and cost just 30p [65 cents] each. They are lower strength and deliberately designed to appeal to youngsters at drink-free teen discos.

We found them being peddled in Glasgow by Gary Patterson, a dealer who has a string of convictions. Patterson, 33, told us: "They're cheap as chips [french fries] but not as strong so ideal for your less experienced clubber — kids. They're popular at kiddy discos. You pop one, space out for an hour. If it's getting close to mum and dad picking you up, you stop taking them." He handed over two sample bags.

Drug marketers are not satisfied with the havoc, addiction and death they are causing adults, so now they are deliberately targeting our youngsters. Now is the time to pass harsh new laws to target those who sell drugs to youngsters. Let's put these people away for a long, long time.

What Ecstasy Takes Away

Here is a photo of Ecstasy victim Sian Sadler, 19, died last week after taking Ecstasy at a nightclub in England. What a lovely girl; what a tragic loss.

This week, the nightclub is still open, and dealers are still selling their wares there.

Ecstasy: The Love Drug?!

Normally, the headline above is reserved for stories about murders committed by people high on the "love drug," Ecstasy. This one is a little different, from Bangkok:

A British drug dealer has sentenced his Thai girlfriend to death by posting her more than 2,000 Ecstasy tablets from London. The 27-year-old girl was yesterday charged with dealing in a Class 1 drug, which carries the sentence of death by lethal injection under Thai law.

Huge Ketamine Bust

When I talk about designer drugs, I get more blank looks when I mentioned ketamine than GHB or ecstasy, especially around parents. When I read about busts like this, even far away in the Philippines, it is clear that people will become more familiar ... and that's sad.

Some 7,000 kilos (15,000 pounds) of ketamine ... were seized by the authorities who raided a house in Quezon City yesterday. The joint elements of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Another Bad Guy Busted

I love seeing things like this in the public record columns of newspapers. This is from the Greenville (South Carolina) News:

Paul John Scheele, 25, 323 Havenhurst Drive, Taylors, transporting drugs, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute near a school, possession of ecstasy with intent to distribute, possession of ecstasy with intent to distribute near a school and/or park, possesssion of schedule IV drugs, possession of schedule II drugs, possession of schedule III drugs.

Club Where Kids Died Closes

I shared with you in a post last week about two Canadian girls that died after taking Ecstasy. Now the club where they were partying before their death has closed.

The Nitrous Lounge, located in Thorold just past the Niagara Falls boundary, sits empty but Niagara Regional Police and Thorold municipal officials maintain it wasn't their doing.

Thorold Mayor Robin Brock said she received a call from a concerned person worried about the impaired condition of some of the young people leaving the club in the early-morning hours.

The mayor said police were notified and they visited the club on a regular basis, but because no alcohol was served, their hands were tied as to what laws they could enforce.

The owners of the club couldn't be reached for comment. I bet. What slime; making their living off of putting young people at risk. They're probably hiding under a rock somewhere.

Here's the solution, from The Straights Times in Malaysia:

TWO operators of a popular nightspot in Malacca have been charged with allowing drugs to be consumed in their disco. This makes them the first club owners to be brought to court since Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Noh Omar directed the police early last month to enforce Section 13(C) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

SWAT Digest Tells Sara's Story

Thank you SWAT Digest for telling your readers the story of Sara, the tragic story of homicide by the drug Ecstasy. Law enforcement officers need to know how evil and criminal the designer drug world is, because they have the opportunity to reach kids in positive ways, and help them to make smarter decisions.

Read the story here.

Sara's story is one of four designer drug tragedies told in my film True Stories of Ecstasy & Ketamine. The film is designed to help parents, teens and young adults become aware of what can happen to those who use these drugs, and hundreds of people have emailed me, telling me of the positive effect the film has had on them or their loved ones.

"Murder by Drugs" Law Challenged

I know of several cases of people who died because they were given drugs without their knowledge, including Sara, Kyle and Hillory. None of their murderers were prosecuted, and now drug attorneys in Pennsylvania are attacking one of the laws that makes it possible to prosecute for "drug delivery resulting in death" crimes.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported yesterday on that the state's drug delivery resulting in death statute:

According to the statute, drug delivery resulting in death is third-degree murder. It carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

The law was enacted in 1989, but state Superior Court ruled that version unconstitutional in 1996 because it was too vague.

The Legislature returned with a new version in 1998, but that statute, too, has come under fire.

It is being challenged in the state Supreme Court as a result of a case from Allegheny County. Gregory D. Ludwig, of Rochester, was charged with drug delivery resulting in death in May 2001.

Ludwig sold Ecstasy to an acquaintance, who distributed it to her friends. One of them, Brandy French, 16, of Sewickley, took it at a rock concert and died the next day.

Patrick Thomassey, Ludwig's attorney, sees two problems with the charge against his client.

First, Ludwig didn't sell the Ecstasy to French. Second, there is no way the prosecution could prove malice, a required element of third-degree murder.

"You can't have a murder without malice," Thomassey said.

Malice, under law, is described as a "hardness of heart" and a complete disregard for differences between right and wrong.

"In a consensual drug transaction, there cannot be malice," Thomassey said.

Not true, countered John Burkhoff, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

"We don't have the defense of consent to homicide crimes," Burkhoff said. "That defense simply doesn't exist for homicide."

There's much more to the story, so read it all here.

Rash of Drug Rapes in Kitchener, Ontario

From the Kitchener Record:

Teenage girls as young as 14 are seeking counselling for sexual assault after being given date-rape drugs, a local crisis centre says.

This month, counsellors took an increased number of calls about Rohypnol, Ketamine and GHB, commonly-known as date-rape drugs, said Anna Haanstra, spokesperson for the Kitchener-Waterloo Sexual Assault Support Centre.

The agency gets about 100 crisis calls a month, she said. This month, about a dozen calls were from young Cambridge women between 14 and 18 or from their mothers. This figure represents an increase in calls from Cambridge, Haanstra said.

"The fact that we have seen an increase shows us it's an issue beyond the cases we have seen," she said. "Most women don't know to call us."

Drug-assisted rape isn't just a big city crime, a college crime or a Spring Break crime. It's spreading and it has to be stopped! I strongly suggest that prosecuters add attempted murder charges to rape charges whenever they can, and that they always push for the maximum sentence because of the dangerous and degrading nature of these crimes.

Update: In Reno, police reported that 34 out of 205 sexual assaults in that city in 2004 were drug-assisted. That's over 16 percent!

Tainted Ecstasy?

Police in Canada are investigating the suspicious deaths of two Niagara teenagers, according to the St. Catharine's Standard newspaper.

Friends say the two girls may have taken tainted Ecstasy, which is certainly possible. That's what killed Steven, who's story is told in True Stories of Ecstasy and Ketamine.

But what troubles me about this story is what the deceased girls' friends said:

A friend of the Niagara Falls teen said she believes her friend's death was the result of taking tainted drugs, rather than an overdose.

"(She) was responsible. She knew her limit," the girl said.

The level of denial is unbelievable. Here a friend has died, yet this girl continues to think that Ecstasy is safe. It is not manufactured under pharmaceutical conditions, so you never know what you're getting. Cathy, who is also profiled in True Stories, took the same amount of the same batch of Ecstasy that more than 30 other kids took at their Senior Prom. She died, they didn't even get sick.

And people think they can trust this drug!

Three Ruined Lives In England

From the Liverpool (England) Daily Post & Echo:

A FAMILY paid tribute yesterday to a teenage girl who died following a night out.

Sian Sadler, who was 18, is believed to have taken the dance drug ecstasy during a night out in Manchester on Saturday.

The shop assistant, from Alderley Edge, Cheshire, was found dead at a house in nearby Wilmslow on Sunday morning.

Two men, aged 18 and 19, were arrested on suspicion of supplying a Class A drug and later released on police bail.

Here is the statement from Sian's parents:

"Sian was a beautiful girl. She was kind and loving. She was such fun to be with and had a brilliant sense of humour. She was a hard-working and very popular girl who was always smiling and happy. Her tragic loss has left a void that can never be filled."

How sad, how true.