Drugs prohibition creates dangerous double standards in law
A Swansea jury resumes deliberations today, in the trial of woman (Gemma Evans, 25) who is accused of failing to help her half-sister Carly, who died of a heroin overdose.
The victims mother, Mrs Andrea Townsend, was found guilty of a similar offence yesterday at Swansea Crown Court and has been released on bail. Sentencing is to follow shortly.
The circumstances surrounding the death of a 16 year old girl who was only 1 week previously in the care of the local authorities, is a sad, tragic reflection of how drug prohibition casts a bias over the British judicial system.
It was May 2nd 2007 the courth heard, that Carly Townsend had bought three bags of heroin.
Townsend - and it is alleged Ms Evans too - knew she had taken the drug and in the early evening she was showing signs of an overdose as her lips had turned blue and she was drifting in and out of consciousness.
The prosecution's case is that her half-sister had helped Carly buy the drugs and she and her mother "took a risk" with her life by not seeking medical help.
The jury has been told that that Townsend and Ms Evans feared they and Carly would get into trouble.
Prosecutor Paul Thomas said they owed Carly a duty of care and their actions amounted to gross negligence.
The defence case was that the pair did not believe Carly was in danger and that she would "sleep off" the effects of the class A drug. She never did!
Compare this case, with a case which recently came to a similarly tragic end, but in Manchester this time.
David Reid, a 22 year old bank worker from Manchester, had spent the evening with friends, drinking, playing cards, and watching DVD's.
After watching the DVD "American Pie 5: The Naked Mile", in which two of the characters in the film challenge each other to a game of "Last Man Standing", David and his friends decided to emulate the film.
The rules of the game are quite simple. Drink as much as you can, and the last man standing wins, or as is the tragic case for young David Reid, loses.
According to James Lynch, a friend who also watched the DVD with David, "We spent the evening drinking cans of lager and margaritas while playing cards.
The two men then shared half a bottle of tequila, half a bottle of gin and three shots of whisky within 45 minutes. Mr Reid was eventually carried up to bed and placed in a sleeping bag after complaining that he could not drink any more. He was found dead hours later.
According to the coroners report David's death was as a result of "Misadventure". Coroner Mr Leonard Gorodkin said: “We all know about drinking to excess and it has claimed the life of this young man.”
David Reid, who worked for the Bank of New York’s satellite office in Manchester, had died from alcohol poisoning.
Even though Mr Reids friend James Lynch has admitted he was party to the tragedy, no charges were brought and Mr Reid's death certificate recorded he died from alcohol poisoning.
Back in Swansea and a mother is still grieving for the loss of her daughter, even though she has been charged with playing a part in her death.
If she is sentenced to a custodial sentence she could have plenty of time to re-run the events of the night of May 2nd 2007.
Time to ask herself, was it the heroin that killed her daughter, or the system put in place supposedly to protect the Great British public from drugs?
