Sad news indeed, but the cause of death will remain unexplained for a week or more AFTER next week's post mortem examination. Full examination with photography and dissection of the body alone will take several hours of at least one Home Office pathologist's time. Following that, samples for toxicology and microscopic examination will be essential to determine accurately the cause(s) of death. There are a number of possible natural or suspicious causes for death which need to be ruled out before concluding that drugs and / or alcohol were the causes - even if the latter may seem most likely.Originally Posted by Tawi2
Sad news,I was just listening to her on the radio yesterday,poor kid
If indeed illegal drugs are found to have contributed, it will fuel the debate on whether or not to decriminalise or legalise such drugs. Could further lives be saved, and the current 75,000 young people in the UK getting criminal records each year be helped, if such drugs were decriminalised ? They would still be illegal but dealt with in a civil system, with a fine and treatment in specialist clinics ( " rehab " ), together with needle exchange schemes. Some users at least could openly seek help, without fear of jail. This works in Portugal and Switzerland.
There is, however, no simple answer. Those most in favour of decriminalisation / legalisation ( such as Virgin boss Richard Branson ) often live far from the drug problem, addicts, and dealers. Heroin use in the UK involves around 1% of the population ( compare that with alcohol abuse / smoking ). If it was legalised, logically every other illegal drug, and future drugs, should follow suit. The worry about legalisation is that levels of " recreational " ( but dangerous ) drug use might increase. It's seen as a dangerous strategy by experts such as Professor Neil McKegeny at Glasgow University. He and others are closer to the problem than Branson, Kofi Annan, and the Prime Minister of Greece, who are on the Global Commission on Drugs currently debating it.
R.I.P. Amy Winehouse.
