Man pleads guilty in fatal ecstasy OD

[BlueMystic]

http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa...?/base/news-29 /112189800180280.xml&storylist =


Man pleads guilty in fatal drug overdose case

7/20/2005, 7:16 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man who sold the drug Ecstasy to a teenage girl who died of an overdose pleaded no contest to drug charges.

Gregory D. Ludwig, of Beaver County, sold three $20 tablets to three girls who took them at the X-Fest, an all-day rock concert in Burgettstown, in May 2001. One of the girls, Brandy French, 16, died of irreversible brain damage the next day as a result of a drug overdose, the coroner ruled.

Ludwig, 23, pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges of drug delivery, possession and possession with intent to deliver.

Ludwig had also been charged with third-degree murder, but Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning dismissed the charge.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala appealed, but in May, the state Supreme Court upheld Manning in a 4-3 ruling, saying prosecutors failed to prove malice, defined as "wickedness, hardness, cruelty, recklessness and disregard of social duty."

Manning had also ruled that the 1998 statute that criminalized drug delivery resulting in death was unconstitutional, but the high court reversed him and said the law meets constitutional muster.

Brandy, a sophomore at Ambridge Area High School, weighed less than 100 pounds and had not taken Ecstasy before the night of the concert. After she took the drug, she suffered a headache, she vomited repeatedly and experienced difficulty breathing.

Donald French sued four of her friends and a friend's mother, alleging they failed to seek medical care for her after she became unresponsive. The lawsuit was later resolved without going to trial.

[Alfa]

I wonder what was in those pills. It sure wasn't MDMA.

[BlueMystic]

Hopefully not another batch of PMA..

[Muirner]

what is PMA?


Muirner

[unico_walker]

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/pma/pma.shtml



Is it too much to expect to see the tox screen in cases like this?

[bowlingforcindy]

this scares the shit out of me.

do you just need one pill to overdose, or is this a very ppular drug now but some people just take too much of it, i.e. several pills in one go.

[pabel_giboon]

Just because the pill she took was told to be X it doesn not mean at all it is, i tryed to find extra information on drug test performed to the girl but found nothing in the internet

[Sitbcknchill]

Well she also weighed less than 100lbs, which is pretty damn small and they also stated that her friends bought some to and they didn't die so I'm wondering if it had something to do more with her weight and/or tolerance...

As for the third degree murder charge...FUCK THAT it's bullshit and not at all right...people just don't want to be responsible for their own actions...yes the dude sold her the drug but he didn't force her to buy it nor did he shove it down her fuckin throat....I'm sorry that she passed away but in no way shape or form do I blame the dude for selling it to her...

[blindpanda_eric]

That sucks, we all know how rock concerts are... she may not have even
wanted to honestly take it. Never the less, she did. What I
am wondering(more in general with MDMA), is brain damage caused by lack
of serotonin? If so, would a preload of 5-htp maybe have saved
her life?



Recently, I believe it was the 26th of this month, I was at warped
tour. Some guy(probably about 21) passed out in the croud, and
his eyes started to roll back in his head, and move very fast.... so we
carried him to the staff. Just, thought I might bring it up, this
thread kinda reminded me of it.

[BrugmansiaBrujo]

Sad to hear, but you can see the spin in the story. We don't know
it was ecstasy</font>. The coroner doesn't know if it was ecstasy</font>,probably even
the seller doesn't know what is in the pills.



If it were legal and controlled, then at least we'd know it was pure and the strength it was.



But that doesn't stop the drug warriors and the media from putting spin
on the story, further demonizing a truly great drug. One that was
proven to be of great value in a psychotheraputic environment until
it's use was forbiddeen.


Edited by: BrugmansiaBrujo

[psyvision2000]

wow a kid here in the bay area just got five years in prison for a 14 yr old girls death in a ecstasy overdose in belmont, california......

[ventrue]

it was an ECSTASY overdose, not MDMA overdose. you might think they are just dumb and using ecstacy, but ecstacy is the term used because it was a cocktail of drugs. i'd like to point out that for 20 bucks you can order a bottle of EZtest reagent that will test your pills for the presence of PMA/speed/mdma/2cX. you can search on the internet or there are several very popular harm reduction groups. i think everyone who does X should have a bottle of this stuff. i've never had anything test any other color than the color for mdma, but its money well spent.


as to the the girl dying, it was not mdma she died from, even if she weighed 50 lbs the proportional amount would not have come into play. its incredibly hard to OD on mdma, but other actives in the pill could cause it real quickly, 2cb/2ci for instance.Edited by: ventrue