Drug overdose victim Alexandra Ross-King’s mum on decriminalising MDMA

Drug death victim Alexandra Ross-King’s family have called on the NSW government to consider decriminalising MDMA.

The family of music event drug death victim Alexandra Ross-King say they are completely against all drug taking but have called on the NSW government to “be realistic” and consider the decriminalisation of party drug MDMA to dispel the stigma of drugs and encourage young people to seek help when they overdose.

Jennie Ross-King, 47, lost her 19-year-old daughter after it is believed she took at least two MDMA capsules or pills before entering the FOMO festival in Parramatta in January 2019.

Drug death victim Alexandra Ross-King.

She died after last year’s FOMO festival.

“If it was up to me I would tell all kids to never touch any drugs, I never did them growing up, but children experiment and always will and I believe that the only good thing to do would be decriminalise — not legalise — party drugs, by this I mean MDMA which killed my daughter,” Mrs Ross-King said from her home in Lisarow on the NSW Central Coast.

“If you decriminalise you remove the stigma of taking drugs and if I had an opportunity to talk to my daughter today when she was in trouble after she double dropped to get her out of that dark spot, I would do anything to have that chance.”

“But Alex was more scared of getting caught and me finding out that she had taken drugs than she was of dying. I never had the chance to save my girl.”

Jennie Ross-King is calling for the government to consider decriminalising MDMA. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Mrs Ross-King said she met with Premier Gladys Berejiklian 12 months ago and told her that lecturing young people to “just say no” to drugs was not effective.

“(I’m) sick of the government sitting on the fence and not making a decision. I met with Gladys Berejiklian in December and she agrees that ‘just say no’ doesn’t work. But yet she won’t do anything about it.”

“Kids think it’s okay to do drugs, we missed the boat on trying to change their minds decades ago.”

“I don’t agree with anyone taking drugs, not any drugs at all, but I’m a realist and I know that young people experiment.

“I had no idea Alex was taking drugs because she was too afraid to talk to me.

“The answer is to try and educate kids on the perils of taking drugs and where they can get help when it goes wrong – better that than to double drop and die.”