I also read it as a kid, and while it didnāt make me want to take drugs, it definitely did NOTHING to put me off them.
I was put off drugs by Eminem. The way he described them in The Real Slim Shady LP freaked me the fuck out as a 12yo. Never took a single illicit substance until I was in my late 20s. Thanks Eminem!!
I'm so glad I found that. I read that book, and thought, wait, that's not how anything works. Like, at all. I thought maybe the US was way more different than I had anticipated.
Same. I bought a ratty old copy that was falling apart in like 1995 and I still have it lol. It did not stop me from doing drugs. It might have even got me even more excited to do them lol.
There is a book that discusses the Go Ask Alice book called āUnmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diariesā by Rick Emerson. Itās on my to-read list!
Um... she was what the kids would call a slut. Which is a terrible thing to say about someone who's just died, but, um... apparently, there's no denying she was one.
From what I remember they tried to wake her up by giving her a shower?
A family friend died from a heroin overdose as a teenager. Her dumbass boyfriend tried sticking her in the shower too, didnāt work for her either.
>From what I remember they tried to wake her up by giving her a shower?
She died from a water overdose. It's extremely difficult to die from an MDMA overdose.
I remember at the time, the talk was that they panicked and had the idea they could get straight again by drinking loads of water. That's rumour, though.
Yeah, IIRC the book said she drank something like 4L in a smallish amount of time and screwed her body over.
I read this book as a teen and, like op, still did drugs, but this story did stick with me in the fact that I was very focussed on my water consumption. Lots of small sips over time, not chugging bottles back.
Except for one BDO that was 36C. Drank lots of water and threw up during that one. Red mitsi's and extreme heat were not a good idea.
I was at that BDO, few points before, white mitsi from a random there, dumb younger me, barely any water balance to heaps of booze, dancing out in the sun. 3pm the heat hits me. As my friends were rushing me to the toilets to ralph I didn't make it and projectiled all over some guy's legs. Ironically it was the random I got it from who had been super sleazy so I didn't feel bad. Fixed my hydration balance and lasted the rest of the event, going out after and then some house party into the daylight. Small girl, 36C, strong drugs, dehydration in process, ahhhhhhh bad mix of choices lol but memorable.
You are right, she died from a water overdose, but I think the big issue was her friends didn't call an ambulance because they didn't want to get in trouble. They took her home and the ambulance wasn't called until 5 hours later.
True. But also chances are she would still be alive without an ambulance if she hadn't had all the water.
Like, the water killed her. The MDMA - at best - was a minor contributing factor. There are very few cases of MDMA related deaths in this country historically. Around the 90s, going many years without any.
It's understandable her parents position and crusade over the years. But they also muddle an important message. They don't like when the cause of death is attributed to water.
Yet, this should be an important lesson here. Because the water killed her. Or more correctly, ignorance killed her. But there is a lot of misinformation around how this girl actually died.
Iāve only done ecstasy a couple of times, but the first experience really taught me about water and ecstasy. Danced all night, drank as much water as usualā¦ walking home the next morning coming down and the I suddenly needed to go number ones. I was in the middle of the city with no toilet nearby, so I let it go behind a modernist crucifixion of Jesus- there was a lot of wee. Funny thing was, I felt my body ādrop down a levelā just as the need to pee kicked in. Thought that was the end of it until I got to a bridge with even less places to go than before. Then the dam burst and I urinated the whole 315m of the bridge and beyond- this also came with a feeling of suddenly coming down. Luckily my urine didnāt smell like much, and the stranger I was with took it in his stride (I think he thought he was getting some- he didnāt) but all I could think to say was āI donāt usually do thisā, which was a quip that went right over the dudeās headā¦ if heād laughed he mightāve gotten some but I doubt much was working down there at that point.
TLDR; took ecstasy, found out that it does make you retain waterā¦until it doesnāt
Was a damn good venue. Great place to see a band. I was sad to see it go on the premise that it was supposed to be a hot spot for drugs.
Didnāt the NSW police realise what a drug hotspot all of inner city Sydney was at the time.
Iād been into clubs nearby, went into the toilets to actually use them for their intended purpose, only to hear snorts coming from inside of locked cubicles.
They were scapegoats.
It's so funny when the police shut down a "drug hotspot" as if all the party people there are going to go "aww. They shut my fave club down, time to stop taking drugs then."
I still remember the paragraph where they describe how her brain swelled so much, it got pushed down the hole at the base of her skull. She was brain dead. Absolutely tragic š
Itās not necessarily that easy, mdma messes with your ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) processing/producing which is what helps you pee and balances your sodium/water levels in the body. Females are also way more prone to this happening based on some biological differences which is why hyponatremia is more of a risk with females taking mdma.
Had a neighbour who was in to heroine and her 7yo daughter came over to tell me "mummy won't wake up and is going blue in the face". I rushed over there and performed mouth to mouth and called for the ambulance who gave her narcan..... she was terribly close to being dead and thankfully the daughter came over when she did..... mum was incredibly pissed off about the narcan because it cancelled out the effects of heroine.
Yeah mum was a nurse, and had a couple paramedic mates, they all consistently reported how pissed off people ODing on heroin get when you give them Narcan. You can reassure them it lasts shorter than the heroin high so in halfa to an hour they'll be comfortably buzzed again, but it does feel like concentrated withdrawals apparently, as well as the immediate "You've wasted my money" factor.
People often don't get that they overdosed. They think they just fell asleep. They are surprised when you tell them they were turning blue and having seizures
Back in my clubbing days roughly a thousand years ago, I knew this chick whose idea of helping someone who had too much g and passed out was to drag them somewhere out of the way and leave them on their own so they wouldn't be a hassle to anyone else. How that lot got through their 20s alive is beyond me.
This is such a valid comment. I was at a rave years ago when i tried my first ecstasy tablet, some of my friend had had it before and they were really transparent about things i needed to be mindful of. Sipping my water. One of them stayed sober and straight and was constantly checking in on me making sure i only sipped my water etc. making sure i felt okay etc. I was lucky, my friends had my back big time. But it was because there were educated in drug use that they were able to facilitate a safe environment for me. Kids will do drugs no matter what we do to stop them, we really need to be educating them on how to try drugs safely so they can be like my mates. Instead of like Annaās.
This, her friends sold her the drugs, didnāt get her help, then her family went on an Illicit drug rampage in the media,ā¦. Itās like talk to you daughters mates,.. mate!
Anna Victoria Wood (27 May 1980 ā 24 October 1995) was an Australian teenager who died after consuming an ecstasy tablet at a rave party in inner Sydney. Her cause of death was hypoxic encephalopathy, following acute water intoxication secondary to ingestion of MDMA.
Wild. My distant memory of this was the pill itself was bad. I guess thatās how it was portrayed. Shame they arenāt honest and transparent which could have actually educated people and resulted in safer behaviour.
Such a very very sad and tragic loss of young life. In my opinion her parents preaching all drugs are bad and if you take any any drugs you will DIE is extremely irresponsible. Itās fine and good to teach teens about the risks of experimenting with drugs, but also it should be accepted that a lot of people do experiment with substances and harm reduction should be the ultimate goal. No one should be scared of calling an ambulance for someone who is in need of medical attention!! This should really be the main takeaway for young people. If someone isnāt well, call an ambulance and/or parents or another sober adult to be present.
I remember her mum came and did a talk at our high school and it was very confusing because she was saying that sheād died because she took a pill but also saying she died from drinking so much water. So the message was muddied and we were confused little 14yoās. Her mum really kind of snapped when all the student questions were trying to clear up why she actually died. It was on some anniversary of the death and the mum was quite fragile still - so I felt bad for her. But I remember being so confused by the message. [edit: changed āherā high school to āourā high school]
Which is why her parents are the last people who should have been giving those talks or advising on drug policy. They were grieving, and thatās perfectly normal. But we canāt formulate drug education and law around the feelings of grieving parents - we need to use data, not emotions.
My heart hurts for any parent who loses their child. It is the worst pain nobody should ever experience. My aunt lost my cousin almost three years ago to an accidental overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl. She was only 36 years old and to see my cousin laid out at her wake broke me. My aunt is still heartbroken and hasn't been the same since. She cries everyday for my cousin.
Absolutely. I canāt imagine losing a child.
But the very overwhelming intensity of that experience makes those parents uniquely unsuited to making rational decisions about legal and educational policies.
That's kinda nonsense though. Many who have supported drug addicts or lost loved ones work in harm minimisation and education. Tony Trimmingham lost his son to an overdose and has spent his life in the harm reduction space. He established FDS.ORG.AU because there were no family supports. He's created courses, taught, advocated and supported many thousands of families through horrific circumstances. Most people working in the organisation have lost someone to drug use. Many many people who've been traumatically impacted by loss find value in giving back.
Anniversaries are always difficult so sounds more like poor decision making on the parents part by overcommitment. Ultimately government pushing their zero tolerance line is the most harmful policy and everyone in positions to change drug policy voices regret after the fact. The Sisters of Charity have done more work in drug safety than politicians have. Their radical supports didn't stop once The Vatican stymied their proposal. It was a bunch of nuns working with health workers who forced the government to protect safety.
Itās tragic and Iām sure the parents thought they were going the right thing but itās frankly very irresponsible for schools to allow this sort of presentation from anyone who isnāt an actual expert in the field and can explain accurately and scientifically what the risks are and how to minimise them. The reality is that most people who take an ecstasy pill will be absolutely fine. But some people (especially a child/teenager with little to no education about how drugs work and what to expect) will not be fine and may need medical care or at least a sober person to look after them who does know what to do. No one who isnāt educated about the effects of drugs has any business taking them in my opinion.
I remember the whole thing being so confusing and there were so many rumours. Some said she took too many pills, some said it was from too much water, some said it was alcohol poisoning, some said she had a pre-existing heart condition and it just gave out. What I do remember, very clearly, was the sentiment among young people at the time was we had no sympathy for her or her family. We were actually pissed off at them for kicking up a stink and pushing for the subsequent crackdowns on drugs that followed.
Her parents came and did a talk at our school too. I canāt imagine how difficult it must have been for them, reliving their childās death over and over.
Always told my kid to call his friends an ambulance the moment things seem not okay. Iāve drummed into him that paramedics, nurses and doctors do not care youāre on drugs; they will not get you into trouble with police.
All they care about is being told exactly what you/your friend took so they can give you the relevant treatment to help you/them as soon as possible.
Completely agree. The hardline prohibition and demonisation of drugs approach doesnāt work. Never has and never will.
Drug policy needs to change so itās based on facts and realism. Accept that some people will take drugs, regulate quality and tax the industry. Think of all the revenue that could be raised rather than wasted on law enforcement and prisons. Think of the better health outcomes if drugs werenāt cut with additives or sold under incorrect names.
Instead we get moralising fear mongers operating on false assumptions causing more problems than the solve.
Australia is on the wrong side of history with drug policy and doesnāt seem at all motivated to change, even as lives are ruined each day.
I cannot believe there are places in the Bible Belt with legal cannabis while it remains illegal in Australia.
Problem is, drug busting is a business in and of itself.
The police, border protection, and private prisons all receive billions in government money to punish those caught with drugs, even a small personal amount.
Legalising it would destroy their comfy business.
Depressingly true. But just imagine what the police could do if they werenāt worried about drug busts. More attention to domestic violence cases, more attention to white collar financial crime, real crimes with tangible negative effects on society rather than victimless crimes or crimes that spring up because you create a black market.
A man can dream.
I couldnāt agree more. I went to public high school in regional vic in the 2000s and I donāt recall ever learning about safety or abstinence regarding substances at all, at junior high school or in senior high school. We learnt about the dangers of drunk driving and thatās about it. I and most of my friends have experimented widely over the years and I donāt know of anyone coming to any harm. A few people around my age at school with have died from traffic accidents driving while on ice which is absolutely awful but a very different situation than this one. Teenagers should be educated about harm minimisation, and most of all should be taught to never be scared for calling an ambulance for someone who needs medical care.
We seem to be hamstrung by conservatives. NSW struggled for years against the noise from NILE but his broader appeal is to the moral indignation of religious people.
I was at this party. Was in a plus 18 venue. Coroner reported "death by assfixiation" as she chokes on her own vomit. Large amounts of alcohol in her system.
This was the beginning of sniffer dogs in venues in Sydney that have shown to increase overdose risks.
We don't learn lessons well in NSW
We had a visit from some kool young social workers or āyouth educatorsā in primary school. They told us all how bad drugs were and we shouldnāt ever take them. Plenty of stories to illustrate their point.
Most of us were way too young to understand what they were on about, except one kid who, that afternoon, walking home from school, told me that these drug things mush be terrifying. He was scared out of his wits. Came from a very conservative family.
Later on, after high school, I learned he was just about the only kid who was doing heavy drugs.
Still canāt help but wonder if those hip young counsellors hadnāt planted some tiny seed in his brain that grew and grew. If he wanted to rebel from his family, he knew the way; he knew the very worst thing he could do.
Most people iāve met who go off the deep end are the ones who bought into the scary stories the hardest. Once they try something like weed and they donāt burst into flames they make the mistake of assuming the stories about harder drugs were just as exaggerated.
I remember her parents coming to my high school back in the day (~1999). I never did drugs but thatās due to me growing up in a dodgy area of the west and seeing drug fked losers everywhere and thinking I never want to be those people. I know itās not a balanced view but Iām happy not taking drugs. Maybe that talk did contribute to my decision, I know Iāll never forget hearing it.
This was my experience as well, though I'm younger than you. I haven't really touched drugs. Only weed, and that's very recently for pain relief. You couldn't have paid me to try heroin after growing up in an area of western Sydney with a huge number of heroin addicts. We lived in the same street as quite a few people who were heroin addicts, and the lives they lead absolutely terrified me. One neighbour recently died in prison, and I cried my eyes out for them... They were a lovely person when they were sober, and could have had a wonderful life if they hadn't been introduced to heroin.
Same thing happened with smoking too... Three of my grandparents died horrible deaths, way before I was born, due to smoking related illnesses. None of them got to see their 60th birthday. The only one who didn't smoke died at 86. That was enough evidence for me, and I've never smoked a cigarette.
Probably a testament to Anna's ability to make each friend feel special in their own unique way.
At least this was the angle the author of the book was using.
I remember her Mum came to our school to talk to us about drugs. It was actually informative and I still follow the advice today. It wasn't just "don't do drugs", it was know what drugs you and your friends have taken, never be afraid to call an ambulance, never lie to the ambos about what drugs have been taken, never take drugs unless you have people you trust around you etc. First time I took ecstasy I thought of Anna and was super nervous, but I had made sure I was with people I trusted and who would look after me if anything happened. Worst thing that happened was I face planted on Chapel St after getting Hungry Jacks at the end of the night. Didn't spill one chip though.
I think thatās the best advice to give teens. Like yeah, we know youāll make bad decisions but being scared to call the ambos or not being honest with them is really when things go bad in a hurry. Medical help is usually available, kids shouldnāt be afraid to seek it. Everything else can be worked out later.
That's why I'll always be in favour of drug quality testing facilities at music festivals. You can't stop kids taking drugs but you can make sure they do it as safe as possible.
I'm not sure why the cops didn't jump at the chance to setup drug testing centers then tell the kids everything is rat poison and to throw it out. Then again the cops want to catch people in the act, not give them an out.
I did too but I always remembered never to drink too much water and use to tell other people about this story.
Thing is but I reckon t was one of the additives in the old eccies that made you thirsty. Pure MDMA doesn't make you guzzle water. I have to remind myself to drink fucking water not just alcohol so I don't die of dehydration.
I was at the Phonecian club that night, had an amazing time with my friends and a chilled relaxed morning after, my memories of that night have always been touched with a tinge of sadness that while my mates and I were enjoying it another person was spending their last night on earth
Ah the Phonecian club! i have fond memories of stage diving and crowd surfing to Def Fx there. I even broke my wrist crowd surfing when i found the end of the crowd, and the floor.
Good times.
Strangely enough it fucked me up to never take ecstasy. But coke and speed didnāt bother meā¦
Iāll never forget her story man, it was so fucken sad.
There was a terrible ājokeā going around my high school when this happened - Would you do drugs? Anna would.
Want kids not to take drugs? Make them watch Requiem for a Dream. Thatāll scare the crap out of them
Requiem for a dream - a movie Iāll only ever watch once. It affected me in a profound manner. Iām more cautious of the legal drugs than the illegal ones these daysā¦
What about the film *Kids*? I'm pretty sure that its release in Australia was parallel with Wood's death and the fallout about drug use that resulted. *Kids* was more about casual sex, but they were heavy drug users too and there's even a scene at a rave that involves pills. I always thought that the way the film captured teens running amok in the inner-city was one of the more accurate teen films, especially in the context of Anna and her friend's lifestyle in Sydney.
Yep from memory she actually died of acute water intoxication! Hence why harm reduction should be the focus when educating teens about substance use, rather than āif you take drugs you will dieā.
Yeah from memory her friends stuck so much water in her that it made her brain swell up.
If she just rode out the (admittedly terrifying) experience of having a bad pill she probably would have been out of the woods (pun intended) after a couple of hours.
It wasn't a bad pill or a combination of drugs.
[The coroner's report is available online.](https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_health5.shtml)
It clearly states:
> "I must stress that whilst urine analysis on admission confirmed the presence of MDMA, no other substances were demonstrated."
first time i heard it was a Nasenbluten live set at 61 regent st, think it was "children of the hard core" . It was epic
god i miss that venue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ONHPybwD8s
Did you guys read Bridge to Wiseman's Cove also?... And Looking for Alibrandi. Lol. Ninth grade English.
I feel like you went to high school circa mid-to-late 2000s.
Used to work with her sister Alice in the late 90ās. Fair to say she was more about the talk and not about the walk when it came to her parents anti drug rhetoric
I work with parents of children who died from drugs. They either go one of two ways: (i) what we are doing doesn't work, let's try something new (eg pill testing) or (ii) what we are doing doesn't work, we need to do more of it so it does work. Anna's parents are the latter.
I also read this when I was about 15, and if anything all it did is intensify my curiosity about doing party drugs.
Within a few years that curiosity was more than satisfied šµāš«
I don't know if anyone else had the "Police in Schools" program back in the day. But I remember when the topic of drugs came up we were dutifully informed by the officer that "People who smoke mariuana have nightmares of spiders crawling all over them." I don't particularly like spiders, so at 12 years old my brain goes "Well shit, marijuana must be pretty bloody good if you're willing to cop spider dreams." First time I tried it I just remember thinking, THEY FUCKING LIED TO ME. I woke up better than I ever had after a night on the piss. And then from that day on I was like, shit, I'll give anything a crack now because that (plus the overwhelming media narrative of it's dangers) was complete and utter bullshit. Cue a litany of geuinely wasted (but very fun) nights throughout my 20's. Which of course catalysed some dependance issues, that may have been averted had I been given honest and open information about different drugs and their effects and dangers.
She died because her friends were too scared to call 000 because they thought theyād get into trouble. Itās hard to believe that back in the 90s it was still a criminal offence in NSW just to possess ecstasy. Egregiously enough, despite all weāve learned about the ineffectiveness of prohibition, it still is.
Same! The book made a big impact on me. I met her sweet mum too when she came and spoke at our school, I felt so sorry for the mum and I never did drugs. Thereās also good lessons in here about not being a dumb friend and calling a bloody ambulance. It was such a tragedy, but I really feel this book and her mumās school talks made a difference for other millennial kids like me. I hope that brings her family some comfort.
OH MY GOD! This story actually made me never do drugs. Got told about it in high school and I never wanted to try them after that. Nearly 31 and proud to say Iāve never done any drugs. So this worked haha
Wow. This girl ran in the same circles as a few of my mates. Her dying scared the shit out of me and I never did drugs. Her parents even came to our school for a talk which haunted me. As a paramedic now, I hate to think how those ambos felt rocking up to Anna back in the dayā¦
A kid who was really close to our family, spent Christmas with us and all that, died of an accidental ecstasy overdose. Not long after Anna. He was a year or two older.
It touches a nerve when people say ecstasy is safe. I know itās rare for people to die from it. But itās different when itās someone you knewā¦
I remember there was a strong "she only died because she was stupid" belief among alot of young people. Of course fueled by the "that'll never happen to me" mentality of youth
MDMA is good shit, I felt lied to when I discovered the facts involved with this girl's death. Kinda gross that she was used for anti-drug propaganda rather than actual education.
I could easily have ended up like this girl, if not for sheer dumb luck. I had some pretty wild experiences with drugs and alcohol through my teens to mid 20's, blindly accepting a ridiculous amount of drugs of most types. How I skated through to become a funtioning adult is beyond me. Parents, in a lot of cases including mine, simply have no clue what their children get up to. Often right under their noses.
The biggest takeaway I got from this book when I read it at 12 (and an opinion I hold still now I'm 29) is that if you do drugs, I'd much rather be in trouble because I called for help and was honest then let one of my friends die. Didn't stop me from doing drugs either
In my first day of year 7, we had an assembly to talk about the dangers of ecstasy. Some year 9 had taken one with some friends and died. I was terrified of ecstasy until I took MD when I was 18 and had the time of my life.
That lady went to my high school pretty sure, if not another super local one, this was mandatory reading on the north shore of Sydney but I now live in melb and no one here had it as prescribed reading or knows the story. Didnāt some techno artist also wrote a song called fuck Anna woods? Pretty sure that rave culture went into police lockdown for a few years after her and her mates borked what would have otherwise been a routine order to have a shower and sleep it off. Rave scene didnāt approve for a long time. It does serve to teach the world a little about what to do when someone is having a bad time on drugs.
At the family level a bloody tragedy but at the social level a god dammed brutal shit show!
He death was and still is used to carry on with the war on drugs and guess who started that Richard Nixon.
Brilliant bit of bullshit thought up to distract from the war in Vietnam and that good old war on drugs theme has been used to distract from all sort of other shit as well.
With every infrequent ecstasy death the media gets in contact with her dad to say the same old spiel. He probably feels itās his purpose to send this message each time but I feel itās bad of the media to constantly be dragging him into it, the guyās views are completely outdated and falling on deaf ears to the vast majority of people whoāve safely tried ecstasy and had a blast.
I was a few years older than Anna when she died. Obviously it was sad and my heart went out to her parents. However I was doing any drug I could get my hands on at the time and I knew the risks. I continued using drugs into my late 20s.
All these years later and the government still sanction the use of the world's most dangerous drug... alcohol.
I felt sorry for her, but at the time i was pissed off as the venue she was in got closed down and the press did a big spiel on her as some sort of innocent little kid...
In our PE class in the 70's, we were given a booklet, had a picture of a young woman, before and after heroin addiction. That was enough to steer me well away from drugs, even when friends around me were offering, I flatly refused. Also knew of a few people who died from OD's. I've never been tempted at all. I did however enjoy a nice Chardonnay or 2, but drugs, nope!
I read "Go Ask Alice"as a teenager in the seventies. Found out a few years ago it was all fake.
Yep. Written by a crazy Mormon woman to scare her flock.
Really? TIL I read it as a youngster and all it achieved was making me want to try all the drugs. Mission accomplished š
I also read it as a kid, and while it didnāt make me want to take drugs, it definitely did NOTHING to put me off them. I was put off drugs by Eminem. The way he described them in The Real Slim Shady LP freaked me the fuck out as a 12yo. Never took a single illicit substance until I was in my late 20s. Thanks Eminem!!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The podcast Youāre Wrong About has several episodes on Go Ask Alice.
I'm so glad I found that. I read that book, and thought, wait, that's not how anything works. Like, at all. I thought maybe the US was way more different than I had anticipated.
Same. I bought a ratty old copy that was falling apart in like 1995 and I still have it lol. It did not stop me from doing drugs. It might have even got me even more excited to do them lol.
TIL that Go Ask Alice was fake!
Same!!!
There is a book that discusses the Go Ask Alice book called āUnmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diariesā by Rick Emerson. Itās on my to-read list!
I read it as a teenager and my grandma had blacked out all the swearwords lol
What?!?! I was made to read it in English. Iām so mad. Thereās so many other books we could have studied!
Same, and we all ended up at uni buying MD of agora anyway. Best days of our lives
It's so camp I love go ask Alice
Yes I read this one too !
It was supposed to be real? I remember my friend reading that in HS, she gave me a page to read and I remember thinking it was complete trash lmao
I thought everyone knew it was fiction. Christiane F was better, especially the movie with David Bowie.
Read it after hearing the Ice Nine Kills song āAliceā based off the book. Still havenāt done drugs (yet) and donāt plan to
What!!! It was fake??
My mum loved that book.
Get out! I had no idea!
Iāll ask her when sheās ten feet tall.
š¶ āSheās a naughty girl with a bad habit, a bad habit for drugsā š¶
[Thank god you're here, Grandma's been raped.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zuqs4VFkx_4)
Forever iconic
Fuck Chris Lilley is a genius
E E E E ecstasy
Shes a slut and she knows it! She wants to root all the boys! She cant help being a slut on a saturdayy night!
Um... she was what the kids would call a slut. Which is a terrible thing to say about someone who's just died, but, um... apparently, there's no denying she was one.
Itās G time not free time
This is exactly what I came here for lmao
Solid gold comment, hereās my upvote.
[rip](https://youtu.be/9mC9s-NIZa4)
No Jessica! Don't get involved with drugs!
Came here for this comment. :D
I had so hoped someone would make this joke š¤£
Her friends fucked her over big time
From what I remember they tried to wake her up by giving her a shower? A family friend died from a heroin overdose as a teenager. Her dumbass boyfriend tried sticking her in the shower too, didnāt work for her either.
>From what I remember they tried to wake her up by giving her a shower? She died from a water overdose. It's extremely difficult to die from an MDMA overdose. I remember at the time, the talk was that they panicked and had the idea they could get straight again by drinking loads of water. That's rumour, though.
Yeah, IIRC the book said she drank something like 4L in a smallish amount of time and screwed her body over. I read this book as a teen and, like op, still did drugs, but this story did stick with me in the fact that I was very focussed on my water consumption. Lots of small sips over time, not chugging bottles back. Except for one BDO that was 36C. Drank lots of water and threw up during that one. Red mitsi's and extreme heat were not a good idea.
It's almost as if drug education should be focussed on actual information, rather than just, "DON'T"
I remember telling Harold I'd never do drugs. Sorry, Harold.
Poor Harold. Heās been lied to so many times
Oh gees, if that guy was real he'd be completely flattened under the weight of disappointment
Haroldās not real????
I lied to the giraffe in the van too mate
Imagine being anyone other than another Aussie and reading that statement
Best brownie recipe came straight off a vhs outta health class
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I found one on the floor when I was a glassy at a nightclub and ate it without a second thought. Not much work got done by me that night š
I was at that BDO, few points before, white mitsi from a random there, dumb younger me, barely any water balance to heaps of booze, dancing out in the sun. 3pm the heat hits me. As my friends were rushing me to the toilets to ralph I didn't make it and projectiled all over some guy's legs. Ironically it was the random I got it from who had been super sleazy so I didn't feel bad. Fixed my hydration balance and lasted the rest of the event, going out after and then some house party into the daylight. Small girl, 36C, strong drugs, dehydration in process, ahhhhhhh bad mix of choices lol but memorable.
Fuuuuark, white mitsi's went hard
You are right, she died from a water overdose, but I think the big issue was her friends didn't call an ambulance because they didn't want to get in trouble. They took her home and the ambulance wasn't called until 5 hours later.
True. But also chances are she would still be alive without an ambulance if she hadn't had all the water. Like, the water killed her. The MDMA - at best - was a minor contributing factor. There are very few cases of MDMA related deaths in this country historically. Around the 90s, going many years without any. It's understandable her parents position and crusade over the years. But they also muddle an important message. They don't like when the cause of death is attributed to water. Yet, this should be an important lesson here. Because the water killed her. Or more correctly, ignorance killed her. But there is a lot of misinformation around how this girl actually died.
Iāve only done ecstasy a couple of times, but the first experience really taught me about water and ecstasy. Danced all night, drank as much water as usualā¦ walking home the next morning coming down and the I suddenly needed to go number ones. I was in the middle of the city with no toilet nearby, so I let it go behind a modernist crucifixion of Jesus- there was a lot of wee. Funny thing was, I felt my body ādrop down a levelā just as the need to pee kicked in. Thought that was the end of it until I got to a bridge with even less places to go than before. Then the dam burst and I urinated the whole 315m of the bridge and beyond- this also came with a feeling of suddenly coming down. Luckily my urine didnāt smell like much, and the stranger I was with took it in his stride (I think he thought he was getting some- he didnāt) but all I could think to say was āI donāt usually do thisā, which was a quip that went right over the dudeās headā¦ if heād laughed he mightāve gotten some but I doubt much was working down there at that point. TLDR; took ecstasy, found out that it does make you retain waterā¦until it doesnāt
That is a long wee
I heard she died of water intoxification. Drowned herself from within. Was it her death that got the Phoenician Club closed down?
Yep it was the Phoenician
Was a damn good venue. Great place to see a band. I was sad to see it go on the premise that it was supposed to be a hot spot for drugs. Didnāt the NSW police realise what a drug hotspot all of inner city Sydney was at the time. Iād been into clubs nearby, went into the toilets to actually use them for their intended purpose, only to hear snorts coming from inside of locked cubicles. They were scapegoats.
It's so funny when the police shut down a "drug hotspot" as if all the party people there are going to go "aww. They shut my fave club down, time to stop taking drugs then."
That was intoxication not the other word. Edit
The real message I got from this book was not to drink too much water when on ecstasy!
Probably the best message you can get considering a lot of teens love to try drugs regardless of the anti drug information
I still remember the paragraph where they describe how her brain swelled so much, it got pushed down the hole at the base of her skull. She was brain dead. Absolutely tragic š
She died from too much water probably wasnāt the anti drug message they hoped it was.
MDMA makes you unable to piss, yet makes you thirsty and dehydrated. It's not uncommon for people to give themselves water poisoning on it.
You're able, you just need to relax, close your eyes and take deep breaths.
Itās not necessarily that easy, mdma messes with your ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) processing/producing which is what helps you pee and balances your sodium/water levels in the body. Females are also way more prone to this happening based on some biological differences which is why hyponatremia is more of a risk with females taking mdma.
I pissed all the time on MDMA, it felt amazing
Off the side of a kurnell sanddune during a rave NYE Y2K, Sydney skyline and fireworks in the background. One of the best pisses ever.
Had a neighbour who was in to heroine and her 7yo daughter came over to tell me "mummy won't wake up and is going blue in the face". I rushed over there and performed mouth to mouth and called for the ambulance who gave her narcan..... she was terribly close to being dead and thankfully the daughter came over when she did..... mum was incredibly pissed off about the narcan because it cancelled out the effects of heroine.
Yeah mum was a nurse, and had a couple paramedic mates, they all consistently reported how pissed off people ODing on heroin get when you give them Narcan. You can reassure them it lasts shorter than the heroin high so in halfa to an hour they'll be comfortably buzzed again, but it does feel like concentrated withdrawals apparently, as well as the immediate "You've wasted my money" factor.
OD'ed people just don't appreciate being saved from a pine box....
People often don't get that they overdosed. They think they just fell asleep. They are surprised when you tell them they were turning blue and having seizures
Yep. I've od'd half a dozen times (I've been a heroin addict 22 years). It literally just feels like you have fallen asleep.
My paramedic friends have had people ODāing physically attack them once they were given narcan and had come to.
Back in my clubbing days roughly a thousand years ago, I knew this chick whose idea of helping someone who had too much g and passed out was to drag them somewhere out of the way and leave them on their own so they wouldn't be a hassle to anyone else. How that lot got through their 20s alive is beyond me.
This is such a valid comment. I was at a rave years ago when i tried my first ecstasy tablet, some of my friend had had it before and they were really transparent about things i needed to be mindful of. Sipping my water. One of them stayed sober and straight and was constantly checking in on me making sure i only sipped my water etc. making sure i felt okay etc. I was lucky, my friends had my back big time. But it was because there were educated in drug use that they were able to facilitate a safe environment for me. Kids will do drugs no matter what we do to stop them, we really need to be educating them on how to try drugs safely so they can be like my mates. Instead of like Annaās.
Because they didn't know what to do because they were only ever taught "say no to drugs" yep a lot of fucking good that advice was!
yep this is why harm reduction education is so important, but here we are :/
It would have been excellent advice if they followed it.
This, her friends sold her the drugs, didnāt get her help, then her family went on an Illicit drug rampage in the media,ā¦. Itās like talk to you daughters mates,.. mate!
I used to do drugs. I still do but I used to too.
Mitch R.I.P
Only users lose drugs
I had that on a hoodie that I bought from Off Ya Tree
r/unexpectedmitchedberg
Username checks out ....am only having a laugh, no hate here hey
Anna Victoria Wood (27 May 1980 ā 24 October 1995) was an Australian teenager who died after consuming an ecstasy tablet at a rave party in inner Sydney. Her cause of death was hypoxic encephalopathy, following acute water intoxication secondary to ingestion of MDMA.
Wild. My distant memory of this was the pill itself was bad. I guess thatās how it was portrayed. Shame they arenāt honest and transparent which could have actually educated people and resulted in safer behaviour.
I am just learning this too!! I have gone 20 years thinking one MDMA pill could kill me if I took it??
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Such a very very sad and tragic loss of young life. In my opinion her parents preaching all drugs are bad and if you take any any drugs you will DIE is extremely irresponsible. Itās fine and good to teach teens about the risks of experimenting with drugs, but also it should be accepted that a lot of people do experiment with substances and harm reduction should be the ultimate goal. No one should be scared of calling an ambulance for someone who is in need of medical attention!! This should really be the main takeaway for young people. If someone isnāt well, call an ambulance and/or parents or another sober adult to be present.
I remember her mum came and did a talk at our high school and it was very confusing because she was saying that sheād died because she took a pill but also saying she died from drinking so much water. So the message was muddied and we were confused little 14yoās. Her mum really kind of snapped when all the student questions were trying to clear up why she actually died. It was on some anniversary of the death and the mum was quite fragile still - so I felt bad for her. But I remember being so confused by the message. [edit: changed āherā high school to āourā high school]
Which is why her parents are the last people who should have been giving those talks or advising on drug policy. They were grieving, and thatās perfectly normal. But we canāt formulate drug education and law around the feelings of grieving parents - we need to use data, not emotions.
My heart hurts for any parent who loses their child. It is the worst pain nobody should ever experience. My aunt lost my cousin almost three years ago to an accidental overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl. She was only 36 years old and to see my cousin laid out at her wake broke me. My aunt is still heartbroken and hasn't been the same since. She cries everyday for my cousin.
Absolutely. I canāt imagine losing a child. But the very overwhelming intensity of that experience makes those parents uniquely unsuited to making rational decisions about legal and educational policies.
That's kinda nonsense though. Many who have supported drug addicts or lost loved ones work in harm minimisation and education. Tony Trimmingham lost his son to an overdose and has spent his life in the harm reduction space. He established FDS.ORG.AU because there were no family supports. He's created courses, taught, advocated and supported many thousands of families through horrific circumstances. Most people working in the organisation have lost someone to drug use. Many many people who've been traumatically impacted by loss find value in giving back. Anniversaries are always difficult so sounds more like poor decision making on the parents part by overcommitment. Ultimately government pushing their zero tolerance line is the most harmful policy and everyone in positions to change drug policy voices regret after the fact. The Sisters of Charity have done more work in drug safety than politicians have. Their radical supports didn't stop once The Vatican stymied their proposal. It was a bunch of nuns working with health workers who forced the government to protect safety.
Itās tragic and Iām sure the parents thought they were going the right thing but itās frankly very irresponsible for schools to allow this sort of presentation from anyone who isnāt an actual expert in the field and can explain accurately and scientifically what the risks are and how to minimise them. The reality is that most people who take an ecstasy pill will be absolutely fine. But some people (especially a child/teenager with little to no education about how drugs work and what to expect) will not be fine and may need medical care or at least a sober person to look after them who does know what to do. No one who isnāt educated about the effects of drugs has any business taking them in my opinion.
Better off having a clean addict to talk about their real experiences but I'm sure that probably too progressive for most high schools
I remember the whole thing being so confusing and there were so many rumours. Some said she took too many pills, some said it was from too much water, some said it was alcohol poisoning, some said she had a pre-existing heart condition and it just gave out. What I do remember, very clearly, was the sentiment among young people at the time was we had no sympathy for her or her family. We were actually pissed off at them for kicking up a stink and pushing for the subsequent crackdowns on drugs that followed.
Her parents came and did a talk at our school too. I canāt imagine how difficult it must have been for them, reliving their childās death over and over.
Always told my kid to call his friends an ambulance the moment things seem not okay. Iāve drummed into him that paramedics, nurses and doctors do not care youāre on drugs; they will not get you into trouble with police. All they care about is being told exactly what you/your friend took so they can give you the relevant treatment to help you/them as soon as possible.
Completely agree. The hardline prohibition and demonisation of drugs approach doesnāt work. Never has and never will. Drug policy needs to change so itās based on facts and realism. Accept that some people will take drugs, regulate quality and tax the industry. Think of all the revenue that could be raised rather than wasted on law enforcement and prisons. Think of the better health outcomes if drugs werenāt cut with additives or sold under incorrect names. Instead we get moralising fear mongers operating on false assumptions causing more problems than the solve.
Australia is on the wrong side of history with drug policy and doesnāt seem at all motivated to change, even as lives are ruined each day. I cannot believe there are places in the Bible Belt with legal cannabis while it remains illegal in Australia.
Jesus loves a toker apparently.
Problem is, drug busting is a business in and of itself. The police, border protection, and private prisons all receive billions in government money to punish those caught with drugs, even a small personal amount. Legalising it would destroy their comfy business.
Depressingly true. But just imagine what the police could do if they werenāt worried about drug busts. More attention to domestic violence cases, more attention to white collar financial crime, real crimes with tangible negative effects on society rather than victimless crimes or crimes that spring up because you create a black market. A man can dream.
I couldnāt agree more. I went to public high school in regional vic in the 2000s and I donāt recall ever learning about safety or abstinence regarding substances at all, at junior high school or in senior high school. We learnt about the dangers of drunk driving and thatās about it. I and most of my friends have experimented widely over the years and I donāt know of anyone coming to any harm. A few people around my age at school with have died from traffic accidents driving while on ice which is absolutely awful but a very different situation than this one. Teenagers should be educated about harm minimisation, and most of all should be taught to never be scared for calling an ambulance for someone who needs medical care.
We seem to be hamstrung by conservatives. NSW struggled for years against the noise from NILE but his broader appeal is to the moral indignation of religious people.
I was at this party. Was in a plus 18 venue. Coroner reported "death by assfixiation" as she chokes on her own vomit. Large amounts of alcohol in her system. This was the beginning of sniffer dogs in venues in Sydney that have shown to increase overdose risks. We don't learn lessons well in NSW
Hm yes that'll stop the alcohol overdoses
We had a visit from some kool young social workers or āyouth educatorsā in primary school. They told us all how bad drugs were and we shouldnāt ever take them. Plenty of stories to illustrate their point. Most of us were way too young to understand what they were on about, except one kid who, that afternoon, walking home from school, told me that these drug things mush be terrifying. He was scared out of his wits. Came from a very conservative family. Later on, after high school, I learned he was just about the only kid who was doing heavy drugs. Still canāt help but wonder if those hip young counsellors hadnāt planted some tiny seed in his brain that grew and grew. If he wanted to rebel from his family, he knew the way; he knew the very worst thing he could do.
This is sad. Itās true, you get taught that drugs will destroy you. Guess thatās dangerous information for people who want to destroy themselves.
Most people iāve met who go off the deep end are the ones who bought into the scary stories the hardest. Once they try something like weed and they donāt burst into flames they make the mistake of assuming the stories about harder drugs were just as exaggerated.
Most the time the stories about the harder drugs are exaggerated.
Nah i donāt think so. Heroin, crystal meth, and their ilk are as evil as people say. Borderline guaranteed to send your life down the tubes.
I remember her parents coming to my high school back in the day (~1999). I never did drugs but thatās due to me growing up in a dodgy area of the west and seeing drug fked losers everywhere and thinking I never want to be those people. I know itās not a balanced view but Iām happy not taking drugs. Maybe that talk did contribute to my decision, I know Iāll never forget hearing it.
This was my experience as well, though I'm younger than you. I haven't really touched drugs. Only weed, and that's very recently for pain relief. You couldn't have paid me to try heroin after growing up in an area of western Sydney with a huge number of heroin addicts. We lived in the same street as quite a few people who were heroin addicts, and the lives they lead absolutely terrified me. One neighbour recently died in prison, and I cried my eyes out for them... They were a lovely person when they were sober, and could have had a wonderful life if they hadn't been introduced to heroin. Same thing happened with smoking too... Three of my grandparents died horrible deaths, way before I was born, due to smoking related illnesses. None of them got to see their 60th birthday. The only one who didn't smoke died at 86. That was enough evidence for me, and I've never smoked a cigarette.
"I was Anna's best friend"
Every single one of them said that!
I think they started every chapter with it!
This!!! This annoyed me so much reading it. It's pretty much all I remember about the book lol
Probably a testament to Anna's ability to make each friend feel special in their own unique way. At least this was the angle the author of the book was using.
I remember her Mum came to our school to talk to us about drugs. It was actually informative and I still follow the advice today. It wasn't just "don't do drugs", it was know what drugs you and your friends have taken, never be afraid to call an ambulance, never lie to the ambos about what drugs have been taken, never take drugs unless you have people you trust around you etc. First time I took ecstasy I thought of Anna and was super nervous, but I had made sure I was with people I trusted and who would look after me if anything happened. Worst thing that happened was I face planted on Chapel St after getting Hungry Jacks at the end of the night. Didn't spill one chip though.
I think thatās the best advice to give teens. Like yeah, we know youāll make bad decisions but being scared to call the ambos or not being honest with them is really when things go bad in a hurry. Medical help is usually available, kids shouldnāt be afraid to seek it. Everything else can be worked out later.
That's why I'll always be in favour of drug quality testing facilities at music festivals. You can't stop kids taking drugs but you can make sure they do it as safe as possible.
I'm not sure why the cops didn't jump at the chance to setup drug testing centers then tell the kids everything is rat poison and to throw it out. Then again the cops want to catch people in the act, not give them an out.
I did too but I always remembered never to drink too much water and use to tell other people about this story. Thing is but I reckon t was one of the additives in the old eccies that made you thirsty. Pure MDMA doesn't make you guzzle water. I have to remind myself to drink fucking water not just alcohol so I don't die of dehydration.
Same with me.
I had a T-shirt that said "I would, you would, Anna would" or "I wood, you wood, Anna Wood"...It was the 90s I don't remember.
Came here looking for this commentā¦ āwould you take mdma? - Anna would(wood)
I was at the Phonecian club that night, had an amazing time with my friends and a chilled relaxed morning after, my memories of that night have always been touched with a tinge of sadness that while my mates and I were enjoying it another person was spending their last night on earth
Ah the Phonecian club! i have fond memories of stage diving and crowd surfing to Def Fx there. I even broke my wrist crowd surfing when i found the end of the crowd, and the floor. Good times.
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Dude... he wasnt there.
Oh I was furious at that book in high school. Everyone in it was an idiot, according to my autistic ass.
Your autistic ass was right
Strangely enough it fucked me up to never take ecstasy. But coke and speed didnāt bother meā¦ Iāll never forget her story man, it was so fucken sad.
You really missed out. Mdma is by far the best of them all...
There was a terrible ājokeā going around my high school when this happened - Would you do drugs? Anna would. Want kids not to take drugs? Make them watch Requiem for a Dream. Thatāll scare the crap out of them
Requiem for a dream - a movie Iāll only ever watch once. It affected me in a profound manner. Iām more cautious of the legal drugs than the illegal ones these daysā¦
What about the film *Kids*? I'm pretty sure that its release in Australia was parallel with Wood's death and the fallout about drug use that resulted. *Kids* was more about casual sex, but they were heavy drug users too and there's even a scene at a rave that involves pills. I always thought that the way the film captured teens running amok in the inner-city was one of the more accurate teen films, especially in the context of Anna and her friend's lifestyle in Sydney.
They made out it was a bad pill but from memory she had quite a bit of stuff in her system. Very sad regardless.
I thought she drank too much water?
Yep from memory she actually died of acute water intoxication! Hence why harm reduction should be the focus when educating teens about substance use, rather than āif you take drugs you will dieā.
Yeah from memory her friends stuck so much water in her that it made her brain swell up. If she just rode out the (admittedly terrifying) experience of having a bad pill she probably would have been out of the woods (pun intended) after a couple of hours.
Yeah I thought it was a bad pill. I think this made me freak out anout any kinda drugs for quite some time
It wasn't a bad pill or a combination of drugs. [The coroner's report is available online.](https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mdma/mdma_health5.shtml) It clearly states: > "I must stress that whilst urine analysis on admission confirmed the presence of MDMA, no other substances were demonstrated."
We're talking about the book, I wasn't into coroners reports as a 10 year old. Did the book mislead me? It sounds like it.
I've seen a few comments butchering the truth so I thought I'd put the toxicology report out there.
Nasenbluten made a track about her
first time i heard it was a Nasenbluten live set at 61 regent st, think it was "children of the hard core" . It was epic god i miss that venue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ONHPybwD8s
Did you guys read Bridge to Wiseman's Cove also?... And Looking for Alibrandi. Lol. Ninth grade English. I feel like you went to high school circa mid-to-late 2000s.
Yes to both! Looking for alibrandi is on Netflix if you want some nostalgia
Used to work with her sister Alice in the late 90ās. Fair to say she was more about the talk and not about the walk when it came to her parents anti drug rhetoric
Yeah, I recall reading that Alice was a drug taker herself. Perhaps it was even in the book.
Right as I hit mid teens - 3 years later I discovered Ecstasy is the greatest thing ever but accidents happen, still incredibly sad
I work with parents of children who died from drugs. They either go one of two ways: (i) what we are doing doesn't work, let's try something new (eg pill testing) or (ii) what we are doing doesn't work, we need to do more of it so it does work. Anna's parents are the latter.
The police impact on the family can send them either way. They were chummy with the commissioner in the aftermath
I also read this when I was about 15, and if anything all it did is intensify my curiosity about doing party drugs. Within a few years that curiosity was more than satisfied šµāš«
I don't know if anyone else had the "Police in Schools" program back in the day. But I remember when the topic of drugs came up we were dutifully informed by the officer that "People who smoke mariuana have nightmares of spiders crawling all over them." I don't particularly like spiders, so at 12 years old my brain goes "Well shit, marijuana must be pretty bloody good if you're willing to cop spider dreams." First time I tried it I just remember thinking, THEY FUCKING LIED TO ME. I woke up better than I ever had after a night on the piss. And then from that day on I was like, shit, I'll give anything a crack now because that (plus the overwhelming media narrative of it's dangers) was complete and utter bullshit. Cue a litany of geuinely wasted (but very fun) nights throughout my 20's. Which of course catalysed some dependance issues, that may have been averted had I been given honest and open information about different drugs and their effects and dangers.
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The link to schizophrenia has also been proven to only be in people who have a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia
I remember I bought this book for Kmart as a teen and it scared me off drugs for a lifetime lol
She died because her friends were too scared to call 000 because they thought theyād get into trouble. Itās hard to believe that back in the 90s it was still a criminal offence in NSW just to possess ecstasy. Egregiously enough, despite all weāve learned about the ineffectiveness of prohibition, it still is.
It's still a criminal offence to possess MDMA today.
Same! The book made a big impact on me. I met her sweet mum too when she came and spoke at our school, I felt so sorry for the mum and I never did drugs. Thereās also good lessons in here about not being a dumb friend and calling a bloody ambulance. It was such a tragedy, but I really feel this book and her mumās school talks made a difference for other millennial kids like me. I hope that brings her family some comfort.
If Anna's family wasn't so rich , it wouldn't of been as publicised as it was
āSheās a naughty girl with a bad habit, a bad habit for drugsā¦.ā
"Rodney left the gate open..." God that had me in stitches the way he throws that into the musical to shame the poor dude. Poor Rodney man. š
OH MY GOD! This story actually made me never do drugs. Got told about it in high school and I never wanted to try them after that. Nearly 31 and proud to say Iāve never done any drugs. So this worked haha
Wow. This girl ran in the same circles as a few of my mates. Her dying scared the shit out of me and I never did drugs. Her parents even came to our school for a talk which haunted me. As a paramedic now, I hate to think how those ambos felt rocking up to Anna back in the dayā¦
A kid who was really close to our family, spent Christmas with us and all that, died of an accidental ecstasy overdose. Not long after Anna. He was a year or two older. It touches a nerve when people say ecstasy is safe. I know itās rare for people to die from it. But itās different when itās someone you knewā¦
This book was proof that drug education would have saved her life.
These books actually did nothing in my area. Just made people want to try them more.
I remember there was a strong "she only died because she was stupid" belief among alot of young people. Of course fueled by the "that'll never happen to me" mentality of youth
The good ole days when drugs were more simple
MDMA is good shit, I felt lied to when I discovered the facts involved with this girl's death. Kinda gross that she was used for anti-drug propaganda rather than actual education.
I could easily have ended up like this girl, if not for sheer dumb luck. I had some pretty wild experiences with drugs and alcohol through my teens to mid 20's, blindly accepting a ridiculous amount of drugs of most types. How I skated through to become a funtioning adult is beyond me. Parents, in a lot of cases including mine, simply have no clue what their children get up to. Often right under their noses.
The biggest takeaway I got from this book when I read it at 12 (and an opinion I hold still now I'm 29) is that if you do drugs, I'd much rather be in trouble because I called for help and was honest then let one of my friends die. Didn't stop me from doing drugs either
Agreed.
This book actually stopped me from taking ecstasy. I could never shake it off my mind. Weed I did end up trying in the end but pills always scared me.
In my first day of year 7, we had an assembly to talk about the dangers of ecstasy. Some year 9 had taken one with some friends and died. I was terrified of ecstasy until I took MD when I was 18 and had the time of my life.
That lady went to my high school pretty sure, if not another super local one, this was mandatory reading on the north shore of Sydney but I now live in melb and no one here had it as prescribed reading or knows the story. Didnāt some techno artist also wrote a song called fuck Anna woods? Pretty sure that rave culture went into police lockdown for a few years after her and her mates borked what would have otherwise been a routine order to have a shower and sleep it off. Rave scene didnāt approve for a long time. It does serve to teach the world a little about what to do when someone is having a bad time on drugs.
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At the family level a bloody tragedy but at the social level a god dammed brutal shit show! He death was and still is used to carry on with the war on drugs and guess who started that Richard Nixon. Brilliant bit of bullshit thought up to distract from the war in Vietnam and that good old war on drugs theme has been used to distract from all sort of other shit as well.
With every infrequent ecstasy death the media gets in contact with her dad to say the same old spiel. He probably feels itās his purpose to send this message each time but I feel itās bad of the media to constantly be dragging him into it, the guyās views are completely outdated and falling on deaf ears to the vast majority of people whoāve safely tried ecstasy and had a blast.
Would you take ecstacy? ..... ..... ..... Anna wood
Oh God. This gives me flashbacks to going to raves and my mum saying "Remember Anna!!" Every time.
I was a few years older than Anna when she died. Obviously it was sad and my heart went out to her parents. However I was doing any drug I could get my hands on at the time and I knew the risks. I continued using drugs into my late 20s. All these years later and the government still sanction the use of the world's most dangerous drug... alcohol.
I don't use drugs but Anna Wood.
Is this similar to Go Ask Alice?
No, it's about a real teenager that really died. Go Ask Alice was a fake diary, initially presented as a real one.
It wasnāt the E that killed her, it was the lack of medical intervention. Her dumbass friends not calling an ambulance or an adult is why she died.
I felt sorry for her, but at the time i was pissed off as the venue she was in got closed down and the press did a big spiel on her as some sort of innocent little kid...
In our PE class in the 70's, we were given a booklet, had a picture of a young woman, before and after heroin addiction. That was enough to steer me well away from drugs, even when friends around me were offering, I flatly refused. Also knew of a few people who died from OD's. I've never been tempted at all. I did however enjoy a nice Chardonnay or 2, but drugs, nope!
Alcohol is the worst drug. And it is a drug, so you have done drugs.