'I don't want anyone else to die from taking MDMA'

A mother whose son died after taking MDMA has said she wants to ensure other families do not lose loved ones to the drug.

Nicci Parish, from Worthing, West Sussex, said she created an animation about her son Billy's death to warn others about experimenting with illegal drugs.

Billy took MDMA, also known as ecstasy, to celebrate his 24th birthday in November 2020, which caused a violent seizure, organ failure and heart attack.

"When I found out he had been taken to hospital and had taken something, I was so shocked," Ms Parish told the BBC.

"I did not think for one minute he would do something like that," she said.

"It was just mind-blowing what MDMA did to him."

In 2023, 79 deaths were recorded in England and Wales with MDMA or ecstasy on the death certificate, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Ms Parish set up a charity called Billy & Beyond in 2021 to work with schools and colleges to highlight the "harrowing" affect drugs can have on people's lives.

She said she wanted the film, which was produced as part of this initiative, to be "short", "really sharp", and "exactly to the point".

"I think it is just me wanting to make sure it does not happen to another family and that young people are more aware of the risks and dangers of recreational drugs," Ms Parish told the BBC.

Billy & Beyond won a BBC Make a Difference Award in 2023 in the Community Group category.

Prof Fiona Measham, chair in criminology at the University of Liverpool, who also founded The Loop, a drug screening charity, said significant numbers of people were taking MDMA every weekend.

She described how the substance has a euphoric quality and gives people more energy to stay up and dance, but this can lead users to become overheated and dehydrated.

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A major risk from the drug, Professor Measham told the BBC, is that people do not know the strength of what they are buying, which she warned creates the risk of having an overdose.

"People just don't realise the quantities they are consuming," she added.

Professor Measham said one concern was that MDMA is currently "so cheap and so easily available".

"It's another concern in relation to young people," she said.

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