anabolic frolic

Beef up club security, dad pleads
Daughter died after taking ecstasy
Family blames easy access to drugs


GABE GONDA AND TRACY HUFFMAN
STAFF REPORTERS

After-hours clubs should have airport-like security measures to curb rampant drug use, says the father of a teen who died after taking ecstasy at a Toronto nightspot.

Tiffany Mahoney, 19, died early Sunday after going to a club on Dundas St. W., east of Spadina Ave.

"They have airport security because of terrorists and bombs, which can kill," Ross Holtzhauer told the Star last night. "Likewise, in these clubs, they should have security as tight as that, because people die from these drugs."

The Kitchener teen and four friends drove to Toronto just before midnight Saturday and headed to the club district, where they had a few drinks, according to a family member who didn't want to be named.

After last call, at 2 a.m., they went to an after-hours dance club.

According to the family member's account, the friends had MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy. They took the capsules shortly after arriving at the after-hours club. Mahoney soon began to feel unwell, so one friend took her off the dance floor, finding a corner in which to "chill out."

When her condition worsened, at about 4 a.m., the group decided to leave, piling into one friend's car. Mahoney lay down in the backseat and vomited.

The friends decided to get a room at the Best Western on Guelph St. in Georgetown.

At this point, with Mahoney "burning up" and unable to walk, according to the account, her friends helped her up the stairs to their room, where they put her in the shower and then wrapped her in blankets.

A friend asked Mahoney, who was lying down, if she needed an ambulance, and Mahoney indicated no. She was unable to talk at this point, but continued to moan.

Sometime around 5:30 a.m., according to the account, Mahoney's moaning stopped. Her friends noted that she had stopped breathing and called 911. The friend who had initially asked Mahoney if she needed an ambulance was instructed to apply CPR.

Police and emergency services took the young woman to Georgetown Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Halton and Peel police are continuing to investigate.

"My sister in no way was any sort of a druggie," said Nicole Amaral, Mahoney's older sister. "It's hard enough explaining how she died."

Mahoney, who graduated from Kitchener's St. Mary's High School, worked part-time at a Home Depot in Waterloo. She wanted be a social worker or a drug counsellor, her father said, and planned on enrolling in a college program in the fall.

"She was full of life ... she was quirky and bubbly," said Amaral, 24. "She was very interested in talking on the phone, like any young girl."

Amaral said her sister was excited about her recent purchase of a new Honda. But not everything had been rosy for the teen.

Mahoney split up with her boyfriend about three or four weeks ago, according to Holtzhauer, who is divorced from the teen's mother.

At around the same time, she met Vongkham Thammavong, 23, of Guelph, who was with her early Sunday when she died. Thammavong was in police custody last night, having been picked up Sunday morning on an alleged breach of probation.

"It's not his fault. Things happen. They can say whatever they want but it's just bad luck," said Thammavong's brother, who wouldn't give his name. "I feel sorry for the family."

Amaral, who described her family as "angry and shocked" at Mahoney's death, said she wanted to know who made the drug available to her sister.

"We know that she obviously took it willingly," she said. "But, if it wasn't there ... right?"

In June, 2000, an inquest was held into the death of Allen Ho, a 20-year-old Ryerson student who died after taking ecstasy at a rave. The coroner's jury in that inquest made 27 recommendations, including calling for safer venues for raves and tougher laws to curb drug use at all-night parties.

Holtzhauer, 45, wants those kinds of recommendations implemented.

"I think (after-hours clubs) should be regulated more by drug enforcement officers; I think they should be searched; I don't think anything should be allowed to be brought in that club.

"My daughter's walking around not feeling well and these people see a person like this? I think the police should be called and an ambulance should be called in order to save a life," he said.

"I'd like to see these rave bars shut down. It's too late for my daughter, but, I'll tell you, one out of 100,000 die, that doesn't seem like many, but if it's your daughter ..."

anabolic frolic

Just posting this in our forum for historical record.

None of those recommendations would have prevented this death. And nowhere in those recommendations did it recommend tougher laws. In fact, it's the fear of the law that denied this person medical attention when she needed it the most. Education not laws might have saved her.

GlowRaver4184

Thanx for posting this, I totally agree with you.

I stated in another thread how raves and nightclubs would become less dangerous if police and medics were available to help people who were having complications while taking a drug, without the person fearing being arrested.

The war on against drugs is a losing battle, but the education about drugs is something that would save many lives if the government would stop censoring ads and information that they disagree with, or simply just don't like.

Some people blame the internet for making information on drugs readily available. This information is what has caused me to be as safe as possible while using drugs. Being able to find out the side effects, what drugs you cannot combine, how to deal in situations where there is an emergency, and also the proper dosages and concentrations of certain drugs, among other things.

I use a drug calledDXM (dextromethorphan) which is common in many OTC cough suppressants. Taking this recreationally can be very dangerous if you do not have all of the information about it. Many times their are other active ingredients in the OTC medicines which can be fatal if taken in large quantities. After spending countless hours doing research I finally felt confident in knowing that I could take and enjoy this drug in the safest way possible. I have also been able to share this information with those who did not take the time to do the research and could have ended up in the hospital or even dead from the product they were going to take.

Information is the most powerfull tool. Educate yourself. You may save your own life or someone elses.

itsgigglegirl

I'm currently taking a drugs and human behavior class at my university, and we recently started talking about "party drugs", including Ritalin and MDMA. While our professor pointed out that the research done in the United States telling us all that MDMA eats holes in your brain was wrong (it's actually large doses of methamphetamine that does it), he never corrected any of these types of stories you read about in the papers or hear about on the news.

He showed us a video tape of a news story wherein kids at a house party were drinking and taking ritalin and one of the kids died. The news story neglected to mention how much he had been drinking, and how much ritalin he had taken. Another similar story detailed how one child died and another 6 were taken to the hospital after taking Ritalin that wasn't theirs at school. Again, no other information was given, just the inference that Ritalin kills.

While we haven't yet watched the videos, I can only assume that the stories you see on Dateline, or the commercials that you see on TV, are next; telling us all how horrible MDMA is and how it kills everyone who takes it. They forget to tell you that before it became a schedule I drug, many psychiatrists were trying to keep it legal for use in clinics, because it "allows people to open up ". They also forget to tell you that mixing drugs (and yes, alcohol is a drug) is one of the absolute stupidest things you can do.

It's time that the government and parents realize that scare tactics don't work. It's been said time and time again that teenagers and young adults feel that they are invincible, and the "it won't happen to me" syndrome runs rampant. I'm not suggesting that all drugs become legalized, but I am suggesting that people start giving out all the facts in the case, and that kids start doing research on their own before they try anything. There are millions of resources out there, and more of them need to be actively promoted, so we can make informed decisions.

I'm really very sorry that that girl died, and my heart honestly does go out to her family. But at the same time, what the hell were her "friends" thinking? Laws or no laws, your friend can't walk or speak and is burning up, so you decide to wrap her in blankets and see if she gets over it on her own in lieu of taking her to the hospital in an attempt to save your own drugged out hides? That's sheer idiocy, and I honestly hope the parents realize that there really is little the bar owners could have done, and that her friends are primarily to blame. That girl most likely would have been better off had she passed out in the bar. Bouncers or other patrons would be bound to notice her and call the ambulance to save her.

Airport-like security or shutting us (us being the rave scene folks) down won't stop things like this from happening. It could have happened in her own home had she bought pills on the street and gone home after drinking at the bar. Clubs and the rave scene become the natural scapegoats because that's where the drug is viewed as being most prominent. I'm waiting till one of these kids dies at home doing something stupid like drinking all night and then dropping pills. I'm sure they'll still find some way to blame us though.

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Kamehameha

I don't think having more security would have done anything in this case. If someone really wants to do E (for example) they will find a way to do it..even if that means popping it before they go into the club. It would be a lot better to have some medics instead of 'airport-like security'.

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DirectDrive

Obviously the father is distraught over the death of his daughter. However I think he needs to do a little research on what Airport Security is really like. I wonder how he thinks all the non-domestic drugs come into Toronto in the first place....

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astralkid

She was drinking... E and beer dont go well together... and I dont think more security would have helped... As for the medics, I think they should be at every party, they are the one who make the difference.

anabolic frolic

What's sad is I've been given grief by the cops in the past for having medics on site because it's almost conceding that we're aware drug use is happening. It's amazing to me that people would rather have clubs operate as a lot do now by throwing unconcious people out the back door and into an alley rather than have them get the help they need without fearing repurcussions. I remember TRIP telling me years ago that night clubs won't allow them in either to do their work for the same reason.

astralkid

Guilty by association gotcha.

brooklynhype

I don't think having more security would help.. it would make the people more uncomfortable (well at least me and my friends) maybe more medics would help though. Because there was medics just walking around at a party i went to and saw that my friend wasn't feeling well and then they helped her and took her to a hospital and shes fine now (thank god )

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Kandy_Monkey

I think medics are a fantastic idea...seriously ...I cant say anything more that hasn't already been said

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Busta

It doesn't matter how much security you have. You could put military police with drug sniffing dogs at the door and someone could still easily sneak a tiny pill into the place. Deaths from a single dose of mdma are the exception not the norm. Had they been better educated about what they were doing they might have known not to mix mdma with alcohol. When will we learn that telling kids to "Just Say No" doesn't mean they will.

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Toye

Well looks to me like the girls' friends did the best they could. Normal sort of routine thing to do when a friend is having a bad trip. I doubt anyone shoved the pill down the girls throat either. My guess is that it was her first time and she had a bad reaction (allergy maybe) to the MDMA (OR whatever else could have been in the pill) and it took a turn for a worse.

Doing drugs can always have consequences, everyone knows this, or should know.

dj mannik

why dont we have tight security all the time, everywhere.
strip searches complete with anal probes. who needs civil rights?

a 19 year old is a big person capable of making up her own mind about what risks she wishes to take

and if you dont understand that a chemical drug is a potential life threatening event, then you dont deserve to be in the gene pool .. lets just think of the pill as the lifeguard who caught her peeing in the deep end

darwinism, people

dj mannik

no her friends were fucking idiots for letting her sit and die in front of them

mallownimbus

i'd just stick to enjoying the club life just drinking. if i do take any rolls, it's when i'm at my place or a friends and we are in a well controlled environment. we make sure to have plenty of water. no drinking alcohol. take a walk outside for some fresh air. don't even over exert ourselves dancing. although i'm the only one that ever gets up and dances al night long. everybody else just sit there..... and watches me with my glow sticks.

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babyEjunglist

... in the end.. it was the INDIVIDUALS choice... very sad that it ended like that tho

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pinkbunny511

its sad when this stuff happens

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electronica

to your anal probe suggestion...that maybe cool for you I don't know maybe you like that sort of thing ..but for me I like having my rights not violated!!!!! I honestly think that the young girls friends were just scared (shittliss) of going to the bucket for even knowing she was on anything.

electronica

yes, this is true that anyone who is going to consume chems...should know everything they need to know..inside and out... but the codl hard truth of the matter is alot of people doing chems drink alcohol to the point of dehidration because they are to drunk to know any better....if everyone would educate themselfs on the dangers of mixing and matching what ever it is they are doing...then people like that girl and her friends would never had to deal with any of this crap!!!!!!!! Unfortunatly the girl payed with her life!!!!!! In my own opinion it's people like this girls family that is making it harder for people like this girls friends to do the right thing and get help when it's needed for the fear of being prosicuted just for having an adult based dission on how we as indviduals chose to have a nite of fun~~~~~~~~ !puch!

weava

Its the people who fight the war on drugs, its the people who make the laws that often times create more trouble. The family of that girl just wants retribution in any way, shape, of form. I do understand why the girls friends and family are looking for someone to blame, its because no one in todays society knows what it is to take responsibility for their own actions. And as for your statement of "chose to have a nite of fun," sure its a nite of fun, but you have to realize that people in power obviously arent going to support these decisions. And this girl had to know that there was danger involved in her actions.

Also, Mannik, agreed. The friends were fucking morons.

[/rant]

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Saffron

I love the part where its like "Of course she took it willingly but if it wasnt there..."

Ok well I am walking down the street... I see a gun on the road... I decide to play with it... I shoot myself and die. Is it the polices fault for not combing the streets for guns laying around in the gutter. Cmon now. People need to take responsibility for their actions.

I dont support drug use... but I don't think the E is what killed her. Just wait for the coroner.

XSTACEY

this story is really sad


is TRIP still going to get more funding
they should get company sponsors

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chipakapockets

TOTALLY, man. You can beef up security all you want, but if that girl wanted her drugs, she would have found them, anyways. People need to be educated about drugs, to prevent them from making stupid choices. Bullshit urban legends, lack of knowledge and misinformation cause alot of deaths due to drugs. If people know what they're doing, they're less likely to be harmed seriously by what they take.

By no means am I saying drugs are good. They're not, because they break down your body. But, used by people who have bothered to research them and who know and acknowledge the risks they take by consuming them, drugs are much much less likely to cause death. Also, knowing the risks will move alot of people against wishing to try the said substances.

PLUR,

Chip

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