PMA ECSTASY DEATH

Manly Daily (Australia)
May 5, 2007 SaturdayAnnabel's legacy; Annabel's legacy to high schoolSECTION: Pg. 1LENGTH: 461 words

ANTONY Catt will never forget the telephone call that changed his life.
There was a shaky voice on the phone - he was from intensive care at Mona Vale Hospital but could not find the words to explain the devastating news.
The task was passed to Peter Catt who instead had to find the words to tell his son.
''Dad told me Annabel had taken ecstasy and that she was gone,'' Antony Catt told more than 400 students at Narrabeen Sports High School yesterday.
''I told both my parents that I loved them and they said how much they loved me. The phone call was very brief, none of us really knew what to say,'' he said.
''That is how the nightmare began.''
Yesterday, Anthony used the tragedy that ripped through his family to warn the students of the dangers of taking drugs.
Annabel, 20, died after taking ecstasy at the Good Vibrations music festival on February 17.

''She thought it was ecstasy but it wasn't - it was the far more toxic substance PMA,'' he said. ''Drug manufacturers sometimes pass PMA off as ecstasy because the chemicals that go into ecstasy are harder to get.
''The people who made the capsule that killed Annabel knew how deadly it was but they didn't care - they just wanted to make a quick buck, even if it killed someone.''
Annabel died early the following day after suffering violent fits.
The Catt family was at the school yesterday to help Mackellar MP Bronwyn Bishop officially open a refurbished dance room named in Annabel's honour.
Ms Catt was a dancer and a dance teacher. Antony said Annabel was on the organ donor register and the family would have been pleased if her death could have given life to others. But, tragically, only her corneas could be donated.
''Every other part of her body had been so destroyed by the drug rushing through her system that it was useless to anyone else,'' he said.
''It's horrible and it's extremely scary but this is perhaps the best example of how much damage this little capsule can do to your body.
''It wouldn't have mattered if it was the first, second or hundredth time Annabel took ecstasy, the result would be the same - she would be dead. Annabel's death demonstrates that you can experiment with drugs just once and end up in a coffin. What happened to Annabel could happen to anyone.''
The $150,000 refurbishment of the dance studio at the high school came from a federal grant, that Mr Catt said made his family proud.
''Hopefully Annabel's legacy will be there for generations of students to come,'' Mr Catt said .
Mr Catt's father, Peter, said he had anecdotal evidence that young people in the area had similarly been shaken out of their complacency about drugs by his daughter's death. ''Even if it only saves a few lives, it will be worth it,'' he said.