Bittersweet honour for mum who won ban on legal highs
A MOTHER who won her campaign to outlaw so-called legal highs after the death of her daughter has been honoured.
Maryon Stewart fought for a change in legislation after her 21-year- old daughter Hester died when she was given the ‘party drug’ gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) in 2009.
It had already been banned in countries including the US and Sweden.
Mrs Stewart lobbied successive home secretaries to ban such substances, which were designed to mimic the effects of illegal drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis.
The mother founded a charity, the Angelus Foundation, and assembled an advisory panel of experts. In 2016 she succeeded in winning a change in the law when the Psychoactive Substances Act came into effect, banning the supply of legal highs in Britain.
Mrs Stewart, 64, said her award of a British Empire Medal was bittersweet because she could not share it with her daughter, who had been studying molecular medicine at Sussex University when she died.
She said: ‘This is a very special, yet sad, day for me, as I’d love to share it with my daughter Hester.
‘I am so proud that my efforts to campaign against legal highs not only prompted government change but, through increased awareness, also prevented harm and saved many young lives, leaving other families whole.’
Mrs Stewart met with home secretaries and gave evidence about the dangers of legal highs to the Home Affairs Committee in Parliament. She warned that the socalled party drugs were often just as dangerous and addictive as illegal drugs, but that their widespread availability online and in shops misled users into believing they were safe.
In the case of GBL, the substance which killed Hester, it was nicknamed ‘coma in a bottle’ because it was potentially fatal when combined with alcohol. In 2012, before the ban, almost 100 deaths were linked to use of the new psychoactive substances in 2012, up from 12 in 2009. Use was also linked to psychiatric problems and other health issues.
Since the change in the law, official crime survey figures released in July showed a 55 per cent fall in use by 16 to 24-year-olds.
Public Health England figures revealed that the number of young people reporting health problems linked to use of the substances fell by 45 per cent.
Mrs Stewart, a health writer and broadcaster, said she believed the ban had saved thousands of lives.
She said: ‘When my daughter died part of me wanted to curl up and die with her. But I did not want other families to go through the same misery. The problem was out of control and other young people were at risk, and I knew something needed to be done. I worked with the Daily Mail and the media to make people listen, and I’m just so pleased that it means other young people knew more about the risks, and that other lives were saved. It feels as though my daughter’s death was not in vain.
‘I certainly didn’t start this thinking about honours or awards, I did it because it needed to be done, but I’m honoured to be a recipient and to accept it on behalf of the Angelus Foundation team.’