Martha Fernback: Mum of girl who overdosed campaigns for drug legalisation

A woman whose daughter died from an accidental drug overdose has joined calls for legalisation.

Anne-Marie Cockburn's daughter, Martha died in 2013 aged just 15, after taking a lethal dose of ecstasy.

She believes her daughter would still be alive if drugs were legal and will join campaigners in Edinburgh to discuss regulation of the drug market.

The Scottish government has previously committed to a public health approach towards drug use.

Ms Cockburn told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "Had Martha taken something that was in a box with a label giving recommend dosage and a list of ingredients she wouldn't have taken enough for five to ten people in one go, and she wouldn't have had a accidental ecstasy overdose."

Martha Fernback, from Oxford, died on 20 July 2013 after taking 0.5g of MDMA, which turned out to be 91% pure.

She went into cardiac arrest and died a few hours later.

"She wasn't doing anything that was unusual given the life that she had and the generation she grew up in," her mother said.

She added the campaign is not about condoning drug use but about keeping people safe.

She said: "At the end of the day this is happening and we need have a grown up discussion about it - we need to protect young people like Martha."

As a result of the rise in drug deaths in recent years, the Scottish government pledged to publish suspected drug death statistics on a quarterly basis.

The most recent release showed an increased towards the end of 2022 with 109 deaths in November alone.

Meanwhile according to annual National Records of Scotland statistics, Scotland continues to have by far the highest drug death rate recorded by any country in Europe.

The upward trend had been accelerating since 2013.

Campaigners, politicians and families affected by drugs will attend the event in Edinburgh on Thursday, hosted Anyone's Child, a campaign by the Transform Drug Policy Foundation.

Drugs campaigner Peter Krykant will be among the speakers.

A recovering heroin addict himself, Mr Krykant was arrested after he launched the UK's first "safe space" where users could take their own drugs under medical supervision in 2020.

Charges against him were later dropped.

In 2021 he spoke to the BBC about how he experienced a relapse after 11 years.

Speaking to Good Morning Scotland on Thursday, Mr Krykant said the legalisation campaign is not about glamorising drug use.

He said it was about giving people who are dependent on drugs a "safe supply".

"We're seeing other countries moving in a direction towards a regulated market while at the same time we continue to just criminalise people," he added.

Drug and Alcohol Policy Minister Elena Whitham gave her sympathy to anyone bereaved through drugs.

She said: "We know that we cannot arrest our way out of this public health emergency and we are committed to taking a public health approach; treating drug use as a health condition and responding to it in the same way as with any other health condition.

"I am focused on supporting those affected by problem substance use, delivering real change on the ground and implementing evidence-based approaches to improve and save lives."