Question:
I have recently heard it suggested that 18 year old Leah Betts (who tragically died after taking one tab of ecstasy at her parents house at her 18th birthday party) died because her parents told her to drink water to overcome the effects of the drug and she drank too much!

Answer: It seems that ecstacy can inhibit the function of the kidney in excreting excess water. She had apparently drunk 3 litres, which had the effect of causing her brain cells to swell - a condition known as 'coning' of the brain where it becomes large and swollen at the base and places pressure on the organs below it (presumably hydrostatic pressure, rather that contact pressure). It may have been this that caused her problems with breathing.

She suffered massive brain damage from which she ultimately died.

Another earlier article in the same paper says however that alcohol and tobacco smoking are statistically much more harmful thatn ecstasy.

The recent coroner's report confirms that Leah Betts's death was indeed a result (to some degree) from her drinking copious quantities of water, which given the effects of MDMA resulted (in some unreported way) in her "brain swelling".

This is quite a dangerous incident, especially because of the way "chinese whispers" are used to pass (questionable) information around the drug-using public. If this causes users to avoid water, there will be more deaths from exhaustion. The government should be responsible, and make known the effects, admit that there is usage on a wide scale, publish the actual risks and side-effects, and above all, outlaw the practice of dance-club owners disconnecting water supplies to force sales of their drinks.