Grieving mother urges party drug ban
Updated on 24 June 2009
A bereaved mother will meet Home Secretary Alan Johnson today as part of her campaign to force the government to ban a liquid "party drug" linked to her daughter's death.
Promising medical student Hester Stewart, 21, from Brighton, East Sussex, died in April and police are investigating whether she unknowingly took the substance during an evening out with friends.
Following her death, Maryon Stewart called for an immediate inquiry into why the drug gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) has not been banned in Britain.
Sussex Police said toxicology tests revealed her death was due to GBL in conjunction with alcohol intake. An inquest into her death is due to take place next month in Brighton.
Mrs Stewart is demanding to know why the drug has not been classified as a Class C drug as recommended by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs last August.
It is already banned for personal use in several countries including the United States and Sweden but is available at some health food shops in the UK and can also be purchased over the internet.
The government's drug advisers have previously highlighted the "harms and misuse of GBL" were "commensurate with Class C of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971".
However, the Home Office is yet to introduce such legislation, because of the possible impact control might have on the industrial use of GBL.
