East Yorkshire Mum Welcomes 'Legal High' Ban
Julie Wood's son used to take recreational drugs and died two years ago after consuming drugs he'd bought online.
The mum of an East Yorkshire man who died after taking drugs he bought online is welcoming new plans to ban so-called 'legal highs'.
Julie Woods from South Cave was unaware her young son had been taking recreational drugs.
He died in 2012 at the age of just 28 after consuming drugs he had purchased on the internet.
Yesterday, the Queen announced plans to ban psychoactive substances like legal highs. It'd mean they'd become illegal and anyone caught producing or supplying them could face up to seven years in prison.
Julie says too many young people are taking legal highs and unaware of the dangers. She told Viking FM:
"I think that young people think because it's a legal high, they think it's okay to take it and don't look at the consequences. They think it's not going to happen to them and they'll be the lucky ones but you're not always the lucky ones."
Going back to the moment she found out about her son's death, Julie said:
"I was in my kitchen, cooking tea and I got a phone call from Richard's dad and he just said that he's got some really bad news. He said Richard's been found by his house mate and he's dead and that was it.
"It's a terrible waste of a life, it's just awful. I wouldn't wish anyone to have to go through this, it's horrible. He was 28, he was hard working, he didn't think he was a drug user he just thought he was one of the lads and at the weekend he would take something to give him a bit of a buzz.
"Legal highs have got no social barrier, it's anybody taking these substances, it's professionals who have been working hard all week and they decide to take something on a weekend and think they'll take a legal high because it's okay, it's legal. This is what we need to get across and it's education and if we can just get them to understand that by taking them they are playing russian roulette.
"Even if you don't buy them in a shop, you can just go on the internet and there's thousands of websites you can order them from with free delivery and they come the next day. If teenagers are going into shops buying these legal highs, shop keepers know they're going to take them so have they got no morals? How would they feel if it was their children?
"It just proves that something needs to be done about it. They need to do something about it and there needs to be more education. It's no good brushing the issue under the carpet as it's here and it's here to stay."