Mother urges drugs action after son dies
Woman describes agony of decision to switch off life
support after 13yearold's tragic ecstasy experiment
KAREN McVEIGH

THE MOTHER of Scotland's youngest ecstasy
victim, Andrew Woodlock, yesterday called for
the courts to crack down on drug dealers.

Phyllis Woodlock's plea came after she made the
heartrending decision to switch off her 13
yearold son's life support machine. She vowed
to join the campaign to stop the drugs scourge.

At her home in New Stevenston, Lanarkshire,
surrounded by family and friends, a heartbroken
Mrs Woodlock said: "It's too late for my son, but
I will join in the fight against drugs. At least
then, Andrew won't have died in vain."

Her friend and neighbour, Margaret Wilson,
mother of one of the other teenagers who took the
drug with Andrew, said that her son had learned a
hard lesson, and would never take drugs again.

Andrew Woodlock lost his battle for life on
Thursday when doctors switched off his life
support machine after his parents were told he
was brain dead.

Mrs Woodlock, who had already spent an
agonising five days not knowing whether he
would live or die, described the wait for his heart
to stop beating after the machine was switched
off, as "the worst ten minutes of my life".

As a stream of flowers and cards arrived at the
house, she said that she was trying to come to
terms with his death, and added: "The only thing
that keeps me going is Andrew."

She said: "At the end of the day, I may not have
him here, but I've had almost 14 years with him,
and I'll always have good memories of him.

"All the kids round here looked up to him, because
he was big, and more mature for his age. He was
always organising things, and the kids would say:
'What are we doing today, Andrew, where are we
going?'"

A photograph of Andrew, a smiling, healthy boy, on a walking trip with
his Aunt Christine, lay on the television table flanked by sympathy
cards.

His mother said: "He was into football, and liked camping, that was the
sort of thing he was into, not drugs. Andrew told me he would never try
it."

Mrs Woodlock called for a change in the law so that drug dealers could be
given tougher sentences.

She said: "The court system is a waste of time if they can't lock people
away who have hurt other people through drugs if they're locked up in
jail, they can't be doing kids any harm.

"How can drug dealers drive about in their fancy motors and their fancy
houses when my son's not here any more? How can they sleep at night?"

She vowed to fight against drugs, and warned other children against them,
saying they could never be sure of the effects they would have.

Referring to her son's friend, Steven Wilson, one of the two boys who
took the drugs with Andrew last Saturday, she said: "Steven took five
tablets, and he's okay now. But you just never know."

Steven and 13yearold Brendan Ferguson were taken to hospital after
being found unconscious in a field after taking a new strain of ecstasy
tablets, but suffered no serious ill effects.

It is understood that Andrew, who never regained consciousness, suffered
brain damage because of the amount of water he drank.

Fifteenyearold Steven, who, alongside his mother, Margaret, were
comforting Mrs Woodlock and her children, Colin, 12, and Caroline, 8,
shrugged when asked why the teenagers had tried the drug.

He said he was not aware of the effects it would have, and said: "We
didn't know anything about it at all. I took one, and nothing happened,
then I took another, and then, after it hit me I got a bit of a buzz, and
I took three more.

"I can't remember anything about it after that."

The teenager, clearly upset by the death of his friend, swore he would
never touch drugs again.

Steven's mother, Margaret, said that the boys had been close and that she
was worried about the effect that Andrew's death would have on Steven.
"He's still dazed, but one thing's for sure, he'll never touch drugs
again."

She added: "I can't molly coddle him for the rest of his life you can't
keep an eye on teenagers all the time, but he's learned a really hard
lesson."

Yesterday, hundreds of pupils gathered in the chapel at Taylor High
School in New Stevenston to pray for their schoolmate.

A Government minister Dr John Reid, MP for Hamilton North and
Bellshill, yesterday cancelled all his engagements to attend the private
mass at Taylor High.

Before the service he said: "This is a tragedy for Andrew's family and
whole community.

But it's also another tragic warning about the dangers of drugs to young
people.

"We can only hope that some good can come out of this if it helps to save
lives in the future. Unfortunately it takes something terrible like this
to get the message across. Youngsters must realise that anyone who takes
drugs is dicing with death."

The school's headteacher, Richard Lynas, said in a statement: "Our
thoughts, first and foremost, are with Andrew's family at this sad time.
We are thinking also of all the other families in this area who must be
shocked by this tragedy.

"As a school community, our concern will be to mark Andrew's death
with a proper dignity. A private mass will be offered by our chaplain in
the school for Andrew's classmates.

"Clearly, I would ask all youngsters everywhere to think how easily the
life of a perfectly normal youngster, living in a quiet community, should
be so quickly ended by one experiment with drugs."