Starmer meets mum whose teen son died from ecstasy

A mother whose 18-year-old son died after taking ecstasy in an Ibiza nightclub has met with Sir Keir Starmer to raise more awareness of the danger of drugs.

Ryan Long, from Eastwood near Southend-on-Sea, was on his first holiday with friends when he fell into a coma and died shortly afterwards on 8 July.

Angie Long said the prime minister, whom she met on Wednesday, had related to her story and agreed it was "every parent's worst nightmare".

"[The prime minister] said that there should be no stigma when it comes to this sort of thing, but unfortunately, there is - it exists," she said.

David Burton-Sampson, the Labour MP for Southend West and Leigh, had praised Ryan's mother in the Commons, saying she had "ploughed her grief into campaigning".

Starmer responded: "I have to say, as a father of a 17-year-old boy, I find it particularly hard to hear.

"And no-one, no mother, should have to experience what Angie has experienced."

Long told Ben Fryer on BBC Essex that you have to let children "live their lives", and her son "knew the risks involved and obviously still thought he was invincible".

She said parents had been in touch to share with her similar stories.

"[Their children are] going to a concert and taking something, to festivals and taking something and they just don't come home. They go out and they just don't come home," she said.

"That is what we are trying to get across to the youngsters. Don't think it can't happen to you because it can and it does."

Long appealed to young people to look out for their friends when on a night out.

"A lot of people think, 'Yeah, put them to bed, let them sleep it off', but it doesn't always happen. Sometimes these youngsters don't wake up."

"Since losing Ryan I made a promise, as he passed away, that I will keep his name and memory alive as much as I can and obviously do everything I can to make sure this doesn't happen to another family, because it is a living hell," she said.

Long has been working with the drug support charity, Open Road, to spread the word that "one pill can kill".

"Every school, every establishment needs to know the dangers, the warning signs to look for," she said.

The charity acknowledged that although schools were busy, the key to raising awareness was pupils hearing about the dangers of drugs earlier.

Service manager Natalie Atmos said: "Get us in to do some assemblies, get us in to do these educational workshops with the students to give them that early intervention."

Ryan's inquest identified MDMA and cocaine as the cause of death in his medical report.

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