UK: Grieving parents whose sons died from MDMA overdose back campaign to legalise drugs

[Telegraph.co.uk] - A couple who lost both their children on the same night after they took a lethal overdose have backed a campaign to legalise drugs.

Ray and Sarah Lakeman’s lives were torn apart when their two sons died from taking six times the lethal dose of ecstasy after attending a football match.

Jacques, 20, and Torin, 19, from the Isle of Man, had bought powdered MDMA, the chemical name for ecstasy, and amphetamine from a dealer on the so-called dark web, which cannot be discovered through normal search engines.


The brothers were found dead above a pub in Bolton following a Manchester United game in November 2014.

Their parents, retired primary school teacher Ray, 66, and 52-year-old Sarah, a languages teacher, have now backed Anyone’s Child, a group of similarly bereaved parents campaigning to avoid such tragedies by legalising and regulating drugs.

“I don’t want others to suffer from the pain and memories,” said Mr Lakeland in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.

“Children need protection but the law is not stopping them taking drugs, so we need a safer approach.”

The Anyone’s Child campaign was founded three years ago by Anne-Marie Cockburn, an Oxford mother whose 15-year-old daughter died after taking ecstasy.

The group says that making drugs illegal puts the market in criminal hands, increasing the risks for users and fuels crime.

“The only thing that would have saved my boys was to have a safer system so they knew what they were taking,” said Mr Lakeman.

“We insist on the safety and control of alcohol, tobacco, even sugar – so why not with drugs?”

The MDMA had been ordered by Torin Lakeman off a website called Agora from an anonymous vendor called Stone Island.

Mrs Lakeman said: “The only comfort I take is knowing they were having a nice time, that they were happy and together when they died.” [Full Story]