A YOUNG woman found dead in North Yorkshire after taking the danger drug mephedrone has been described by her mother as a “really lovely girl”.

Fighting back tears, Alison Waters paid tribute to her daughter Lois, 24, as fresh calls were made for the drug to be banned.

A full toxicology examination is to be carried out in the next two days, but family and friends have told police that Lois used mephedrone in the 48 hours before her death.

Former Norton College student Lois died at the home of Sarah Ford, one of her friends, and yesterday Sarah’s mother Jane described how they discovered the tragedy on Monday morning.

“I sent her to go and check on Lois to see if she wanted any breakfast,” she told ITV Yorkshire.

“Sarah went in to check her. Poor Sarah, she came downstairs absolutely crying and said, ‘please dial 999, get the ambulance very quickly’.

“She was so hysterical I couldn’t make anything out of her. She’s saying: ‘She’s dead mum, I think she’s dead’.”

Jane said: “If it is drugs, whoever gave them to her, I would hang them, I really would.”

Lois’s mum, Alison, who was being comforted by relatives at the home of Lois’s sister, Joni, in Norton yesterday, said: “Lois was a really lovely girl. She was really quiet. That’s all I can really say about her at the moment.”

Messages of condolences have also been left to Lois, a Manchester United fan, on social networking site Facebook, while family friend Deborah Cook said Lois was “adored and popular”.

Cause and effect

EFFECTS of mephedrone are similar to those of a stimulant such as MDMA.

It can cause:

  • Paranoia
  • Anxiety
  • Increased heart rate and palpitations
  • Convulsions
  • Increased alertness

Detective Chief Inspector Nigel Costello, heading the investigation, said: “She arrived at this address in the early hours of Sunday.

“She complained that she was feeling ill and very tired.

“She slept most of the day on Sunday and was found in the early hours of Monday dead.

“We know from speaking to her friends and family that she had taken mephedrone in the past and certainly in the 48 hours prior to her death.

“Although we cannot confirm whether mephedrone was the cause of her death, until we have the results of a post- mortem examination and a toxicology report, this drug does give us cause for great concern.

“We are now trying to piece together the last 48 hours of her life. We want to know who she was with, if she consumed any other substances and where she obtained the mephedrone from so we can stop the circulation of this drug.”

Lois’s death follows those of Louis Wainwright, 18, and Nicholas Smith, 19, who died in the Scunthorpe area last week, and Det Chief Insp Costello backed The Press’s Menace Of Mephedrone campaign, which aims to outlaw the drug.

He said: “I think The Press has done right to make people aware of this substance.

“It is not currently a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, but that hopefully will be addressed by the Home Office because we are beginning to realise the devastating effects of this substance.”

He said the Waters family was “devastated” by Lois’s death.

He said: “Her friends and family are all very cut up – devastated, as you would imagine.”

He said it was a “misconception” that the drug was only in the bigger cities and warned people about taking it. “Mephedrone is being used in smaller cities and rural towns such as Norton,” he said.

“This substance is meant as plant food – not for human consumption. Just because it is not a controlled substance does not mean it is not dangerous.

“If you are in the possession of this drug dispose of it safely or hand it into the police.

“And if you have taken it before and not suffered any side effects so far do not be fooled into thinking you are not at risk from this drug. As we are seeing it is a very dangerous substance.”

A spokesman for Malton Bacon factory, where Lois worked, said: “Lois has been a valued colleague for eight years.

“All our thoughts are with her friends and family at this very trying and difficult time.”


Press campaign leads way

THE crusade to outlaw the danger drug mephedrone has become a UK-wide fight, but was spearheaded by The Press.

We launched our campaign, The Menace of Mephedrone, in January following the collapse of a 17-year-old student who had taken the drug at Woldgate College in Pocklington.

Since then, we have been inundated with heartbreaking tales from parents and friends of those who have experimented with the lethal but legal substance, also known as m-cat, bubbles and meow meow.

One of the cornerstones of our campaign has been gathering public support. Our petition calling for it to be banned now has more than 700 signatures and will be presented to the Government shortly.

As part of the drive, we took to the streets of York to gather hundreds of signatures.

One of the starkest stories about the effects of mephedrone came only days after our campaign was unveiled.

A mother told us how the drug turned her “loving and gentle” son into an “aggressive and paranoid liar” and had “destroyed” his promising university career.

We also revealed how seizures of mephedrone, which can be bought for as little as £3 a dose, had overtaken cocaine confiscations on the streets of North and East Yorkshire, while there had been a huge increase in the number of people needing emergency treatment in the region’s hospitals.

Our campaign has won backing from politicians of all parties, the families of the teenagers who died in Lincolnshire last week, and has won praise from police and drugs workers.